How To Guides

THESE GUIDES describe use of the equipment in the Polymer Analysis Laboratory. Some correspond to Chem 4010/4011, Macromolecular Studies I and II, and its Virtual Text.

Each link is to a Microsoft Word document or a PDF file; you may need Word Viewer or Adobe Acrobat Reader  to open them. Items that are not available yet on this site can be obtained directly from Professor Russo.

                                INDEX

                    Analytical Ultracentrifugation

                    Chromatography

                   General

                   Materials Properties

                   Microscopy

                   Safety

                   Scattering

                   Scheduling

                    Synthesis

                   Solutions  -  dn/dc

                   Thermal Analysis

                   Viscosity

            SAFETY

LSU Office of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS)

                LSU's University Safety Manual

                Request for Hazardous Material Pickup & Disposal

                Chemical Inventory Management System

                Hazardous Waste Label form (3-11)

                Material Safety Data Sheet (EHS)

Vermont SIRI MSDS Collection

Link to other MSDS Collections

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            GENERAL

Excel Trick:  Using Solver (two examples in the directory -- see "solver" titles)

Laboratory Notebooks (Powerpoint Presentation)(how to keep a decent lab notebook--more than you think)

Survival Skills (how to graph, program, keep records, identify resistors, and other useful stuff)

Writing (advice from the macromolecular faculty)

Data Handling (Powerpoint Presentation)       

                                                                                                                GO TO INDEX

            SOLUTIONS - dn/dc

Making Solutions

Densitometry using the Paar DMA 58 (Word)  

Differential Refractive Index (dn/dc)   Excel Spreadsheet Template

              Brice-Phoenix Manual (PDF)

              Brice-Phoenix appendix (PDF)

Abbe Zeiss refractometer

dn/dc tables (Password Protected)

Solvent Properties

                                                                                                        GO TO INDEX

            SCATTERING

Multiple-angle, multiple-correlator DLS (MADLS)

Guinier Plot (Radius of Gyration from Light Scattering)

Dynamic Light Scattering Minicourse

             *Final exam        *Accompanying Data File

Dynamic Light Scattering (Legacy Document)

         (Practice data for Laplace Inversion: Milk or Dow Polystyrene 1683) 

DLS Library

DLS Alignment

Bock/Siano Microemulsion recipe

Light Scattering Intensity Measurements

Zimm Plots

        Download Zip File for Program GuiDe

        GuiDe Manual; the Zimm Plot info is in an Appendix 

        Related J. Chem.Ed. article (Russo, Fong, Temyanko & Ricks, J.Chem.Ed. 1999, 76(11), 1534.

Learn about Laplace Inversion for Size Distribution (external; backup is saved on web; contact PR or RC if link is broken)

Malvern ZetaSizer Nano ZS

            Instructions

            Manuals and Tutorials (Password Protected)

                                                                                                        GO TO INDEX

            VISCOSITY

Intrinsic Viscosity

Using the Wells-Brookfield Viscometer (also requires instrument manual = LVTDCP.pdf)

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            ANALYTICAL ULTRACENTRIFUGATION

Overview Document

            (Practice data: Velocity and Equilibrium)

            (Step-by-step Instructions for Velocity Run)

            (Step-by-step Instructions for Equilibrium Run)

            (Video for cell assembly)

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            MICROSCOPY

Microscopy from the Very Beginning (Zeiss Copyright: see Professor Russo)

Photography Through the Microscope (Kodak Copyright: see Professor Russo)

                                                                                                        GO TO INDEX

            CHROMATOGRAPHY

Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC)

Gel Permeation Chromatography with Light Scattering (GPC/LS)

            Adobe Acrobat .pdf version

            Practice Data Directory

            Astra/Dawn Manuals, etc (Password Protected)

                                                                                                        GO TO INDEX

            THERMAL ANALYSIS

TA Manuals, etc (Password Protected)

                                                                                                        GO TO INDEX

            MATERIALS PROPERTIES

Anotop filter membranes

Whatman filter information

Refractive index for various polymers

                                                                                                        GO TO INDEX

            SCHEDULING

PAL Scheduling

                                                                                                        GO TO INDEX

                SYNTHESIS* (New Section...under development)

PBLG

PCBL

PSLG

PEGL

PBLG@Silica by surface initiation

PCBL@Silica by surface initiation

PSLG@Silica by click coupling

*a checkmark P means the procedure has been tested successfully by an undergrad, usually a junior or above, who was instructed to work ONLY from the WRITTEN description; when/if the undergrad encounters a problem, the procedure itself must be rewritten--no hand-holding or verbal instructions from other students, postdocs, lab director or others.)

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