I'm sure everyone here has, at some point, wondered what the UV/vis spectrum of a particular metal salt looks like in a given solvent.  Often, the availble information is limited to a couple of peak wavelengths and molar absorptivities, if you're lucky.  In my classes, I often keep using the same spectra found in Miessler, Tarr, and Fischer, which, themsevles, come from a 1962 book, "Absorption Spectra and Chemical Bonding in Complexes" by Jorgensen.  It's frustrating that there doesn't seem to be an extensive database of electronic spectra (NIST Chemistry Webbook doesn't have much in the w

Hi folks. 

On twitter I started asking for submissions for 100 papers every chemist should read. If you have a paper idea, please submit one!

Here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfLv7OLZWbHsBS62IKvANcRhdmiIN1…

We haven't hit 100 papers yet, but here's a rough draft look at the results so far:

Hi All,

I want to mix gases in several ratios for an experiment. In grad school we had a gas mixer to make the 5-10% H2 in N2 regen gas, but I haven't been able to find the model online. 

Does anyone have a gas mixer to measure the flow of two gases, and if so, what's the brand/item info? Any other ideas on how to mix gas flows? This would be with flowing gases, not a static amount of gases. 

Thanks!

Kyle 

We are getting rid of our old JOEL Eclipse 400. It has a multinuclear probe, gradient shimming, temperature controller and auto-sampler. It is essentially good for parts. Is anyone interested? Let me know.

Hi All,

Has your research benefitted from social media (Besides VIPEr of course!)? Has anyone started a research collaboration over social media (Viper included, but I'm thinking of twitter, researchgate, etc)? I am looking for anecdotes to include in a workshop/talk about social media and professional development. I've got my stories already (Viper included!), but wanted to hear about others. 

Cheers,

Kyle

How do people handle cleaning lab coats if their department/university doesn't have a cleaning service?  I'm not sure I'm comfortable with bringing lab coats home to wash, but I also don't want to have to throw out and replace dirty coats. 

Hello,

Has anyone had luck with a cheap digital microscope? I mainly use microscopes to look for crystals to send off, but I would like to connect it to a computer (hence the digital part) so I can take a picture if I want to email to my crystallographer. 

Thanks!

Kyle

Dear IONiC friends,

It is time for us to replace our shelves in our chemical storage room. Does anyone have any recommendations? We have a big store room, so cost will be a factor. But we of course want to be as safe as possible. Are lips necessary? What chemically-resistant surface do you have? (Yes, we have professionals on this, but this community always has great suggestions.)

Thanks,

Joanne

I've been trying to get an old glove box working better and came accross a cool new option from Vac atmospheres for O2 removal.  They now sell activated cartridges for a couple hundred bucks each that contain an already active copper catalyst for O2 removal.  For about 2k, you can buy a little blower that the cartridge mounts to and turn any air tight chamber into a glove box.  For me, the economics will work out better than maintaining the specialty gas cylinder required for regeneration.