Biochemistry Major: Instrumental Analysis Laboratory
In the era of Industry 4.0, using machines in manufacturing is an indispensable part. Therefore, the Department of Applied Chemistry has included Instrumental Analysis in the curriculum to provide students the background knowledge about analytical machinery used in related industries. It can be said that this subject is highly practical and useful. You will be introduced to the operating principles of analytical instruments, study and practice how to manipulate the machine to do experiments and analyze the results obtained.
Typically, spectrophotometers are widely used in many fields to measure color intensity and then figure out the concentration of unknown sample. For example, they are used primarily in standard curves and colorimetric assays.
There are also methods for qualitative, quantitative, purification, extraction and separation of active substances such as paper chromatography (Thin layer chromatography) and HPLC (High performance liquid chromatography). Paper chromatography is a basic method used to identify the active ingredients in a mixture or to make a preliminary assessment of the purity of a substance extracted from a mixture based on the different polarities of each substance. This technique involves the stationary phase of a thin layer of adsorbent, usually silica gel, aluminum oxide, or cellulose coated on an inert plate. The mobile phase consists is a suitable solvent that dissolved completely with sample and drawn onto the plate by capillary. In only about 10-15 minutes, each individual substance will appear as a small dot on the stationary phase plate. HPLC is considered a more advanced method than paper chromatography. With the same principle, HPLC not only uses for qualitative but also quantify the active ingredient in the mixture and allow the technician recovery the active ingredient for further studies. These two methods are mainly applied in Pharmaceutical Chemistry for evaluation the purity, qualitative and quantitative drug preparations, cosmetics, quality control.
The proficiency in manipulation, analyzing and applying these common machines helps students to confidently apply in many experiments in many different specialties such as Biochemistry and Physical Chemistry. Finally, on behalf of the Department, I wish you can learn a lot of useful knowledge through this subject.
