Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory:
Equipment and instrumentation overview
Inorganic chemistry has a rich and distinguished history starting from the ancient times
involving the smelting of copper, production of bronze weapons, golden jewelry, and clays
in building materials. The various stages in human history track the progress in inorganic
chemistry: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and the Atomic Age. The
development of modern inorganic chemistry has many far reaching consequences that can
be found in most aspects of daily life, from pigments in paint, automobiles, catalysts for
production of fuel and other chemicals, batteries, LCDs, cell phones, computers,
medicines/anti-tumor agents, etc..
The primary purpose of a chemistry laboratory is to acquaint an experimenter with the
various techniques and manipulations to prepare both known and new materials. Some
techniques needed to synthesize and characterize inorganic compounds will be familiar to
you (e.g. weighing, stirring, preparing solutions, collection of IR and UV-Vis spectra, etc.),
whereas other techniques may be new to you (e.g. magnetic susceptibility, glassblowing,
air sensitive techniques, etc.)
In first day of the inorganic lab you will become familiar with the laboratory spaces and
some of the equipment and instrumentation that will be utilized throughout the semester.
A few basic experiments will illustrate the use of the equipment and instrumentation.
1. Syllabus, laboratory safety, locker distribution and check-in,
2. Instrumentation overview, read instructions for operation of instruments
a. Top-loading and analytical balances and cleaning procedures
b. UV-visible spectroscopy - Beer’s Law experiment on [Co(H2O)6](NO3)2
i. Accurately prepare a 10 mL aqueous solution of [Co(H2O)6](NO3)2 at
an assigned concentration.
ii. Measure the UV-Vis spectrum in the range 290-700 nm.
1. Determine λmax and absorbance of each peak
2. Print and retain spectrum
3. Enter data on shared data sheet
c. Conductivity, Hanna Instruments HI9093 conductivity meters
i. Accurately prepare a solution of KCl at an assigned concentration
1. Use an appropriately sized beaker to contain the solution and
sufficiently cover probe and measure the specific conductance
d. Infrared (IR) spectroscopy
i. Collect IR spectra of NaNO3 and [Co(H2O)6](NO3)2
ii. Assign and label major peaks, print and retain printout
Perform calculations and record data in lab notebook. Obtain absorbance and
conductivity data from other students from the master data table prior to leaving the
lab. Retain the spectra and data for use in the first laboratory report.
At the beginning of lab next week turn in the following:
Prepare two Beer’s Law plots of absorbance vs. concentration (M) (all data points) for
each peak. Include slopes and R2 of the trendlines. Determine the molar absorptivity
(extinction coefficient, ε) from the slope of the line in the Beer’s Lab plot for the peak
near 511 nm.
Prepare a table containing molar absorptivities for each peak from your individual
spectrum, ensuring correct units and significant figures.
Calculate the percent difference for your measured ε value and the ε value obtained from
the slope-line using all data
Graph specific conductance vs. concentration for the KCl solutions using all lab data
points. Calculate the molar conductivity for each sample of KCl and the average molar
conductivity. Briefly comment on the obtained versus expected value of molar
conductance for KCl solutions.