The Rotary Evaporator and Near Infrared Spectroscopy: Funny Names, Serious Science

: Büchi specializes in technologies for rotary evaporation and near infrared spectroscopy for research laboratories around the world. These are a couple of funny-sounding words that have a serious impact in our everyday lives.

In 1939, Walter Büchi set up his own glass-blowing workshop in the basement of a private house in Switzerland. He manufactured glass instruments for laboratories and hospitals, leading to the eventual invention of the modern day concept of the rotary evaporator in 1957. Today, Büchi is a leading developer, producer, and distributor of laboratory equipment for research labs around the world. One man’s passion and dedication led to the creation of a company whose technologies help support the evolution and growth of almost every scientific field from chemistry to biology.  Büchi specializes in technologies for rotary evaporation and near infrared spectroscopy for research laboratories and for quality control purposes. These are a couple of big words that have a big impact in our everyday lives.

Evaporation is a key step in a significant number of chemical processes, and a rotary evaporator is an efficient, fast, and gentle way of separating liquids. Specifically, this device allows for the collection of a solvent via evaporation. A chemical mixture is first heated gently. The use of a vacuum temporarily alters the air pressure around the mixture which lowers the boiling point - this makes the liquid boil faster, and lower temperatures are less reactive. When the desired substance evaporates it is collected separately. Rotation, more accurately, centrifugal force, speeds up this process. The Büchi Rotavapor is the most commonly used rotary evaporator found in labs worldwide. So popular in fact, scientists often even refer to this type of instrument as a “rotavap,” regardless of brand.

While difficult to pronounce, the concept of near infrared spectroscopy is fairly simple.  Radiation is the process where energy given off by one body is absorbed by another. Light is a kind of energy, specifically classified as electromagnetic energy. So, an x-ray is a form of electromagnetic radiation: “x-rays” (a particular type of light) are emitted and then absorbed by bone matter. By looking at what is absorbed (or not absorbed) a doctor can identify what is wrong. Spectroscopy is similar in theory. Every chemical will absorb or emit a certain amount of light at a given wavelength. Spectroscopy is the process of identifying chemical substances by the light emitted from or absorbed by them. “Near infrared” is just a particular type of light.  Thus, near infrared spectroscopy uses near infrared light to determine chemical species (or the the concentration of them). Near infrared (NIR) is used because it is able to penetrate further than other kinds of light on the spectrum. Büchi’s NIR spectroscopy equipment primarily supports nutritional analysis of food and feed, and quality control in the pharmaceutical industry.

These key technologies have a wide range of applications and are used in almost every chemistry, biology, and physics laboratory worldwide. They are used primarily for research and development, and quality control in a variety of industries: pharmaceutical, nutritional, agricultural, petrochemical, and many many more. NIR is even used in hospitals to monitor brain activity in patients, or by astronomers to determine the age of a star.

When Walter Büchi began his glass-blowing workshop over 70 years ago, he couldn’t have possibly imagined this evolution. Now lead in part by Walter’s descendants, Büchi employs over 400 employes and has hundreds of distributors across the globe. Büchi’s rotary evaporator, near infrared spectroscopy, and related technologies have a serious impact on the sciences.