ISOF-CNR is equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories dedicated to organic synthesis, materials chemistry, and the study of photochemical and photophysical processes. Our research infrastructures support the entire development cycle — from molecular design to characterization, and from materials synthesis to the analysis of complex nanosystems.
These facilities enable highly interdisciplinary research and foster collaborations with research institutes, universities, and industrial partners at national and international levels.
Organic Synthesis
Molecular Analysis & Characterization
Surfaces & Materials
Photochemistry
Biology and Cell interfacing
Organic Synthesis
The laboratories focus on the design, modelling and synthesis of small molecules, nanoparticles, supramolecular complexes and photoactive systems for applications in materials science, catalysis and biology, integrating traditional synthetic methodologies and cutting-edge technologies and advanced purification techniques. The facilities include 35 fully equipped fume hoods dedicated to organic synthesis.
Bench-scale Laboratory Equipment
- Hydrogenator H-Cube Pro ThalesNano – Flow reactor for advanced hydrogenation for a wide range of substrates.
- CEM Discover SP Microwave reactor – 300 W power in both pressurized and open vessel modes.
- Vaportech E-series easy-Photochem – Photochemical flow reactor (365-625 nm), variable temperature.
- Beckman Coulter ALLEGRA 64R Benchtop Refrigerated Centrifuge, 30.000 rpm; DLAB D3024 high-speed micro-centrifuge, 200-15.000 rpm.
- 5Pascal LIO-5PDGT Freeze-dryer.
- Smart C1 Universal Turbo Evaporator BioChromato – rapid evaporation of small-volume, even for high-boiling solvents.
- Balance Sartorius Cubis MSA125P-100-DA -Max capacity: 120 g, readability: 0,01|0,1 mg.
- Teledyne Isco Combiflash RF200 Purification System with pre-packed commercially available columns.
- Vcell 55 Forced-air Laboratory Oven with programmable time and temperature ramps, range 25-250 °C.
Molecular Analysis & Characterization
Structural and functional investigation of organic and bio‑organic molecules and materials with advanced spectroscopic and physico‑chemical techniques for molecular‑level characterization. These activities support both fundamental and applied research in fields such as photonics, electronics, water quality, and life sciences.
Molecular Characterization
- Agilent NMR 500 MHz DD2 System PremiumCompact Plus -single ADC console and OneNMR probe, nanoProbe and CP-MAS probe; NMR autosampler.
- Mercury Varian NMR 400 MHz – Varian AutoSwitchable probe.
- Agilent Cary 630 FTIR Spectrometer with ATR sampling module – KBr 7000 to 350 cm-1
- Thermo Scientific GC-MS Trace 1300 with Direct probe System – Molecular range 70-1,100 Da.
- Merck-Hitachi LaChrom HPLC-GPC with UV and RI detectors.
- Agilent 490 MicroGC with CP-Molsieve 5A, 10 m.
- Elementar UNICUBE Elemental Analyzer for C, H, N, S and O.
Analytical lab
- Waters ACQUITY UPLC H-Class PLUS System – XEVO TQS Micro MS coupled system
- Shimadzu Nexera XR HPLC with photodiode array and spectrofluorimetric detectors
- Thermo Fisher HPLC Dionex Ultimate 3000 coupled with diode array and triple quadrupole MS Thermo Quantum Access Max; mass range 60-3,000 Da.
- Perkin Elmer NexION 1000 ICP-MS, detection limit 5 ppm.
Surfaces & Materials
The laboratory combines clean-room fabrication capabilities with a broad range of surface-sensitive and thermal analytical techniques.
Manufacturing and processing
- Linari Engineering Nanotech Electrospinning 40 kV.
- Clean room class 10000 with high-vacuum (10-6 mbar) deposition chambers, Spin casting from 0 to 4000 rpm and 1 to 20 cm2 sample dimension; UV-cleaning apparatus.
- MBraun Glovebox MB-20-G-W
- Deposition systems: Spin-coating, Doctor Blade, Dip Coating.
- 3D Bioprinting REG-4-LIFE REGEMAT
Material Characterization
- X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy (XPS): Ultra High Vacuum System Omicron; hemispherical analyser Phoibos 100 Specs, X-Ray Source XR50 SPECS.
- Anton Paar MCR 102 Rheometer.
- NanoBrook Omni System with Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Zeta Potential.
- PerkinElmer Inc. DSC 8000.
- PerkinElmer Inc. TGA 4000.
Microscopy
- Bruker MultiMode 8 – NTMDT NTegra Scanning Probe Microscopy AFM, Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM), conductive AFM.
- Leica DMi8 – Inverted fluorescence microscopy with a CCD Andor IXON Ultra 897 camera and an irradiation system with multiple wavelengths.
- Leica DMLS Microscope with Heating Stage 350.
- Nikon ECLIPSE 80i Fluorescence Microscope with DS-2Mv Digital Camera System.
- NANOS scanning electron microscope (SEM) with secondary electron detector and backscattered electron detector.
Electrical Characterization
- Agilent 4294A Precision Impedance Analyzer.
- System for Time-of-Flight (ToF) measurement with N2 laser at 337 nm.
- Keithley 236 source measure unit for photocurrent measurements.
- Keithley 2400 source meter for IV & SCLC measurements.
Photochemistry
Design, synthesis, and optical characterization of molecules and materials across the UV-VIS-NIR spectral range. The laboratory covers both steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy, enabling the study of photophysical processes from femtoseconds to microseconds.
Steady-State
- Perkin Elmer UV-VIS Spectrophotometers Lambda 650 and Lambda 950 with integrating sphere accessory, Cary 3500 with temperature control.
- Edinburgh Instruments UV-VIS and UV-VIS-NIR FLS 920 Spectrofluorimeters with thermo-cryostat and integrating sphere accessories.
- Jasco J-715 Spectropolarimeter for Circular Dichroism.
Time-Resolved
- Spectra Physics SOLSTICE-F-1K-230V Femtosecond laser system with TOPAS prime optical parametric amplifier –Newport Spectra Physics – combined with a transient absorption spectrometer (HELIOS HE-VIS-NIR) – Ultrafast Systems – and a streak camera synchroscan – Hamamatsu.
- Newport Spectra Physics Nanosecond laser INDI-40-10-HG.
- Single photon counting PicoQuant Fluotime 250 and HORIBA FluoroHub.
- Nikon A1 Confocal Fluorescence Microscope with Picoquant modules for Lifetime imaging (FLIM).
Light Sources and Measurement Systems
- Tunable Light Source.
- Solar Simulators.
- Optical power and energy meters.
Spectroelectrochemistry
- Metrohm Autolab Electrochemical workstations PGSTAT204 and 302N.
- Avantes AvaLight and AvaSpec fiber coupled light sources and CCD spectrometers.
- Redox.me spectroelectrochemical cells.
Biology and Cell interfacing
Biological characterization of molecular systems aimed at defining the structural, functional, and dynamic properties of biomolecules and their interactions in physiological and pathological contexts
Cell Biology
- STEMCELL Technologies Hypoxia chamber .
- Thermo Scientific Varioskan microplate reader for high-throughput cell viability and cytotoxicity assays.
- Thermo Fisher Scientific Attune NxT flow cytometer for cell analysis.
- Quantitative Phase Imaging QPI-TOMOCUBE HT-2H.
Molecular Biology
- BIO-RAD Gel Doc™ Imaging System for RNA & DNA analysis.
- Real-time PCR for gene expression analysis.
- Crisel – Laser scanning confocal microscopy spinning disk FLUO SPIN5 with OKOLAB system for live imaging.
- Patch clamp.