NSF Award
1337396
With this award from the Chemistry Major Research Instrumentation Program, Professor Warren De Bruyn from Chapman University and colleague Catherine Clark will acquire a benchtop spectrofluorometer with a built-in UV-VIS spectrophotometer which makes simultaneous fluorescence and absorbance measurements. The proposal is aimed at enhancing research and education at all levels, especially in areas such as studies of rates and mechanisms of photochemically driven processes and carbon cycling related to chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in marsh, coastal and marine waters, e.g., processing and optical properties of CDOM in surface and pore waters in salt marshes, photochemical production of hydrogen peroxide in coastal waters and impacts on microbial water quality, production and decomposition of volatile organic carbon gases like acetone and photolysis of polyaromatic hydrocarbons in urban runoff.<br/><br/>A spectrofluorometer allows fluorescence parameters. In general, fluorescence is a form of luminescence in which light is emitted by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. Often the light that is emitted has a longer wavelength and thus less energy than the absorbed radiation. This phenomenon has many useful applications in chemical sensors, fluorescence labeling, dyes and biological detectors. This instrument will be used for research and also in educational activities.
