Ujire, December 20: Department of Post Graduate Studies and Research in Chemistry, SDM College (Autonomous), here, organized an Industry – Institutional visit to the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-Madras) and Solara Active Pharma Sciences-an API production industry, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, from 13th to 16th of December.
The total classes of 71 students along with 5 Staff members were split into 4 groups for the convenient visit to the laboratories.
Students visited PXRD lab. (PXRD is a powerful instrument used to determine the structure of the compounds using x-rays and the SEM lab where the instrument is used to determine the morphology of the grown nanotubes using high energy electron beam. This laboratory also consisted of the maldi-mass spectrometer used for the characterization of large biomolecules. The physical lab included TGA, DSC, Physisorption and chemisorption instruments. The TGA and DSC use temperature to determine the physical properties of the sample while the physisorption and chemisorption are used to determine the surface area.)
The NMR laboratory, located opposite to the PXRD lab, was introduced by Prabhu, Ph.D. scholar, at the Department of Chemistry, IIT Madras. The next visit was to the HPLC, Polarimeter, and GC-MS labs. (These instruments are mainly used for purity determination.)
Later, they visited the UV and FTIR laboratory where both solid and liquid samples could be analyzed. The laboratory also contained hydraulic pressure, ATR, fluorimeter and calorimeter.
Dr. Mangalasundar Krishnan, Emeritus Professor, former Director of NPTEL, and former HOD of the Department addressed the students. He guided students through the various opportunities as chemists at the IITs and other fields.
Dr. Nefisath P., Assistant Professor, SDM PG Center, SDM College Ujire expressed gratitude to the organizers and Dr. Bhaskar and Elias at the IIT Madras on behalf of the Department of PG Studies and Research in Chemistry, SDM College, Ujire for providing the opportunity to explore more and extend learning.