Monthly Newsletter for September 2014
Welcome to new researchers!
As the new academic year gets started, we would like to welcome the newly arrived graduate students, as well as the new faculty that have joined the department.
We ask our current CBIC users to help us orient any researchers who are new to the chemstry department. If you know of anyone who needs to gain access to CBIC equipment, please direct him/her to contact Eric Paulson (eric.pauslon@yale.edu) or Brandon Mercado (brandon.mercado@yale.edu) to learn how to request a CBIC account and to set up a training session. Training sessions for NMR users are typically held on Tuesday afternoons at 2pm in KCL 3, but please contact Eric Paulson prior to attending. Other training sessions will be scheduled based on demand.
We would also like to remind new students who are conducting research rotations prior to joining a lab, that while it is possible to gain access to CBIC instruments during rotations, this is only done on a limited basis and you must discuss your needs with CBIC staff before requesting an account.
Instrument Status
There are a number of updates regarding the instruments:
The D8 Focus Powder X-ray Diffractometer and the SCXmini Single Crystal X-ray Diffractometer are both fully operational and ready to be used! Each of these instruments had recurring problems over the past several weeks that we believe have now been resolved. Please feel free to sign up for time online or contact Brandon Mercado for more information.
There is a new TA NanoITC instrument that will be replacing our current MicroCal iTC200 instrument. Anyone who is currently using the iTC200 should learn to use the new NanoITC, especially if they are starting a new series of experiments. We will be hosting a training session by TA representatives very soon – please contact David Keller if you wish to attend. Our current ITC instrument will remain available until usage has moved to the new instrument, but we encourage you to transition as soon as possible, especially as the new instrument should have better performance and reliability.
A600a has had recurring spectral lineshape problems. We believe that this is due to faster-than-expected magnetic field drift after the move– we are working to keep the default shims updated more frequently, and we expect these problems to diminish over time.
The FTIR and GC-MS also had a number of issues during the past month. As always, please Report a problem or contact CBIC staff if you suspect an instrument is not working correctly. In many cases there are minor parameter changes or other changes that can have a dramatic effect on the data produced by the instrument.
Updates
There are a number of ways you can stay updated about what is happening in the CBIC – If you have any questions, you should always feel free to ask any of the CBIC staff, either in person or via email. If you are not on our email list, you can subscribe at https://messages.yale.edu/Subscribe/Groups/AllGroups. You can also visit http://cbic.yale.edu or follow us on Twitter @yalecbic.