/ Chemistry Department

Facilities

The chemistry department is housed in the A. Paul Schaap Science Center, a state-of-the-art undergraduate science center and laboratory for our students and faculty.

A. Paul Schaap Science Center

35 East 12th Street Holland, MI 49423

Reflecting the College’s emphasis on outstanding undergraduate research, the Schaap Science Center is one of the nation's premier undergraduate science education facilities. It houses state-of-the-art research laboratories, hands-on classrooms and more. Learn more.

In addition to classroom spaces, our students and faculty learn and collaborate in 14 labs, each equipped with advanced instruments — from atomic force microscopes to particle accelerators.

ATOMIC SPECTROSCOPY
  • Perkin Elmer 4100ZL Zeeman Effect Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption (AA) system with auto sampler
  • Perkin Elmer Avio 200 Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Optical Emission Spectrometer
  • Shimadzu AA-7800 atomic absorption instruments-2023 with autosamplers (3)
  • GFA-7800 (Graphite Furnace Atomizers), interfaced with computers (Dell-windows 11) and with autosamplers (2)
CALORIMETRY
  • Isothermal Titration Microcalorimeter VP-ITC
  • Parr Stainless Steel Reactors with temperature controllers (2)
CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS
  • Hewlett Packard 3D Capillary Electrophoresis System with autosampler
CENTRIFUGE
  • Beckman L8-70M Ultracentrifuge
  • Beckman Optima TL Ultracentrifuge
  • DuPont-Sorvall RC5B Refrigerated High Speed Centrifuge
CHROMATOGRAPHY
  • Perkin Elmer TotalChrom client/server system with PE Nelson 600 Series LINK and NCI 902 Network Interface for chromatography data collection and analysis
  • Pharmacia Uvicord SI and SII Chromatography Systems
  • E-dac data acquisition devices (4)
COMPUTATIONAL
  • High performance computing clusters with aggregate computing including:
    • More than 3,500 CPU cores with 15 TB of RAM, 60 GPUs, and 400 TB of storage
    • Software packages including AMBER, Gaussian, MOPAC, ORCA, R, Q-Chem, Tinker, WebMO, and a variety of bioinformatics software
  • Computational Science Modeling Lab with 15 student PCs, SmartBoard, Instructor workstation, 3D stereo projection system 
DYNAMIC LIGHT SCATTERING
  • Zetasizer Pro from Malvern Panalytical with Zeta Potential
ELECTROCHEMISTRY
  • CH Instruments Electrochemical Analyzer with EQCM Oscillator
  • CH Instruments Model 602A Electrochemical Analyzer / Potentiostat with computer interface
  • Esa Coulochem III for MS
  • BAS Instruments EC Epsilon E2 potentiostat/galvanostat with potentiostat upgrade
ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY
  • Electrophysiology lab station including:
    • Anti-vibration table
    • Nikon TE300 microscope with D/C optics
    • Micromanipulator
    • Axoclamp 2B amplifier
    • Digidata 1322A A/D board and digital oscilloscope
FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY
  • Aminoc Bowman Series Luminescence Spectrophotometer
  • FLx800 Fluorescence Microplate Reader
  • ISS-K2 Photon-counting Phase Modulation Time-resolved Spectrofluorometer
  • ISS-PC1 Photon-counting Spectrofluorometer with temperature-controlled sample chamber
  • Perkin Elmer LS-5 Fluorescence Spectrometer with HPLC flow cell accessory
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
  • Agilent HP Hewlett Packard 6890A capillary gas chromatography system with autosampler and Flame Ionization Detector upgraded in 2019 to modern electronics and computer interface
  • Agilent 6890 gas chromatography with methanizer and flame ionization detector updated in 2019
  • See also three GC/MS instruments, below
GC-MS
  • Agilent 6890/5973N GCMS (EI)
  • Agilent 7890/5975C GCMS with EI and CI
  • Shimadzu GCMS-QP2010 SE
GEL PERMEATION CHROMATOGRAPHY
  • Waters Alliance 2695 HPLC/GPC system with 120-unit auto sampler, 2414 refractive index detector, and 2998 photo diode array detector
GENERAL BIOCHEMISTRY AND ORGANIC
  • Agilent Synergy H1 Microplate Reader
  • Bio-Rad MPLC Protein Chromatography system
  • Buchi GKR-51 Sublimation Apparatus
  • CEM MARS 6 - Microwave Accelerated Reaction System
  • Fisher FS110H Heated Ultrasonic Bath
  • Li-Cor Odyssey Gel Scanner
  • QuantStudio3 qPCR
  • Revco Ultima II Incubator
  • Sage 361 Multi-Syringe Pump
  • Sterile Max Harvey Autoclave
  • Water purification systems (2)
GENETIC ANALYZER
  • Perkin Elmer ABI Prism 310 Genetic Analyzer
HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY
  • Agilent 1100 Series HPLC (2)
  • Hewlett Packard Series 1050 HPLC System with ternary solvent system and variable wavelength detector
  • Hitachi HPLC system with L-4000 UV detector, L-7100 Pump, L-7200 Autosampler, L-7300 Column Oven and D-7500 Integrator  
  • Perkin Elmer series 200 HPLC with Diode array detector and Auto sampler (2)
  • Perkin Elmer series 200 HPLC with UV/VIS detector, Autosampler, Pump, Column oven and Network chromatography interface (3)
  • See also LC/MS, below
INERT ATMOSPHERE
  • MBraun Solvent Purification System, equipped with toluene, dichloromethane, THF, DMF, DMSO, ether, and acetonitrile
  • MBraun Unilab Inert Atmosphere Glove Box with -35 C freezer (2)
  • Vacuum Atmosphere HI-43-2 Dry Box with Dri Train (2)
ION CHROMATOGRAPHY
  • Dionex DX500 Ion Chromatography system
IR AND FTIR SPECTROSCOPY
  • Bruker FTIRs with both diamond-anvil ATR and transmission sample compartment, with spectral database (2)
  • Mettler-Toledo ReactIR 15 with 6.35mm SiComp Probe
  • Nicolet iS50 FTIR Spectrometer, Thermo Scientific, with attenuated total reflectance (ATR) accessory
LASER SYSTEMS
  • Laser spectroscopy research laboratory with tunable Ti:Sapphire oscillator for condensed phase picosecond (10^-12 s) fluorescence spectroscopy with temperature control
  • Laser spectroscopy research laboratory including Nd:YAG laser, dye lasers, molecular beam chamber, ICCD detector, digitizing ocilloscope, monochromators and signal processing system
  • Laser teaching laboratory including He-Ne lasers, dye laser and data acquisition system
LC-MS
  • Agilent 6545 LC-qTOF tandem high resolution mass spectrometer with both ESI and APCI sources
LIQUID SCINTILLATION
  • Packard 2429 Liquid Scintillation Spectrometer
MASS SPECTROMETRY
  • Agilent 6890/5973N GCMS (EI)
  • Agilent 7890/5975C GCMS with EI and CI
  • Agilent 6545 LC-qTOF mass spectrometer
MICROSCOPIC AND IMAGING
  • Atomic Force Microscope, Bruker Dimension Icon capable of contact, tapping force, scanasyst, magnetic force, lateral force, quantitative nanomechanical property mapping, scanning tunneling microscopy, scanning probe lithography, conductive probe, and heating/cooling temperature control
  • Nikon E600 Eclipse Fluorescence Microscope with digital camera/computer
  • Nikon TS100 Eclipse Inverted Microscope with digital camera/computer
  • Hitachi Tabletop Scanning Electron Microscope
  • JSM -IT700HRLA Scanning Electron Microscope
  • Confocal Raman Microscope, HORIBA Xplora Plus, equipped with: 5x, 10x, 100x objectives, 532 and 785 nm lasers, and a motorized stage for 2D and 3D mapping
NMR SPECTROSCOPY
  • Bruker 400 MHz NMR spectrometer with multinuclear probe and 24 seat autosampler
  • Bruker 400 MHz NMR spectrometer with variable temperature multinuclear probe, remote access capability, and 60 seat autosampler
PARTICLE ACCELERATOR
  • 1.7MV NEC 5-SDH Tandem Particle Accelerator
PEPTIDE SYNTHESIS
  • Model CS 336X CSBio Solid Phase Peptide Synthesizer
PLATE READER
  • BioRad 680 Microplate Reader
  • Bioscan Chamelon Plate Reader
  • FLX800 Fluorescence Microplate Reader
  • Molecular Devices Kinetic Microplate Reader
  • Perkin Elmer Victor 5 Plater Reader
  • Synergy H1 Microplate Reader
POLARIZED LIGHT SPECTROSCOPY
  • Perkin Elmer Model 241 Spectropolarimeter
SURFACE MEASUREMENT/ STRAIN
  • Kruss Contact Angle Meter
  • Kruss K1210 Tensiometer
  • Zehntner Gloss Meter
  • Discovery Hybrid Rheometer, TA Instruments DHR 20, with tribology adapter
  • Novatouch LX2 from Anton Paar BET surface analyzer
UV/VIS SPECTROSCOPY
  • Agilent 8453 Diode Array UV-VIS Spectrometer with standard and biochemical/kinetics software
  • Cary 50 UV/Vis Spectrophotometer (2)
  • Cary 300 UV/Vis Spectrophotometer
  • Cary UV-VIS Spectrophotometer 100Bio with temperature controller
  • Hewlett Packard 8451A and 8452A Diode Array Spectrometers
  • Hitachi UV-VIS Spectrophotometers (2)
  • Newport/Oriel 350 W Research Grade Mercury Arc Lamp and rail mounted optics system with digital timer controlled automatic shutter
  • Shimadzu 1601PC UV-VIS Spectrophotometer with temperature controlled sample chamber (2)
  • Shimadzu UV-2600 with ISR-2600plus UV/Vis/NIR with integrating sphere
X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY
  • Rigaku Miniflex X-ray Diffractometer

  • Two students wearing safety goggles and lab coats work closely on a science experiment involving a blue liquid in a lab at the A. Paul Schaap Science Center.
  • Two students wearing lab coats, safety goggles, and purple gloves are working with a Bunsen burner in a laboratory. One student is holding a metal rod over the flame, while the other observes. The background shows various lab equipment and supplies.
  • A person wearing purple gloves pours a blue liquid from a beaker into a larger Erlenmeyer flask in a laboratory setting. In the background, there are several small bottles and a microscope.
  • Two students in a laboratory setting wearing safety goggles and purple gloves, using pipettes. The students are in the A. Paul Schaap Science Center at Hope College.
  • Close-up of several small glass bottles with dropper lids, filled with various colored liquids, on a laboratory bench in the A. Paul Schaap Science Center at Hope College. Some bottles have handwritten labels, including one that reads "TB carbon 2015."
  • Students wearing safety goggles and purple gloves work with test tubes in a laboratory at the A. Paul Schaap Science Center at Hope College.

Lab Safety

We place a high value on safety for everyone using or visiting our facilities and labs. Contact our lab director, Dr. Andrew Hawk, with any questions at hawk@hope.edu or 616.395.7640.

Get more information on safety policies and practices  

Hope CollegeChemistry Department

A. Paul Schaap Science Center35 East 12th StreetRoom 3101Holland, MI 49423

workP. 616.395.7630