Liquid metals are widely applied in various fields, including chemistry, catalysis, energy storage, chemical sensing, and stretchable electronics, due to their unique deformabilities. However, their behavior under a rod or ring electrode has never been analyzed. Furthermore, research on the deformation behavior of eutectic Ga--In (EGaIn), the most…

Herein, we present an integrated upper division chemistry laboratory experiment involving the synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of catalytic metal--organic frameworks (MOFs). Experiments are designed to facilitate the solvothermal synthesis and characterize MOFs, including UiO-66, UiO-66-NH[subscript 2], and UiO-66-NO[subscript 2]. The…

Normal phase thin layer chromatography is a widely taught technique in undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory courses. To understand how the technique works, students must have a strong conceptual understanding of polarity and intermolecular forces. Unfortunately, many students have misconceptions regarding how polarity and intermolecular…

Previous educational articles on microfluidic technology mainly focused on continuous microfluidics, so we set up an undergraduate laboratory experiment to introduce droplet microfluidics to students. Students can understand the concept of microfluidic channels and the principles of droplet microfluidics, prepare polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)…

The addition of a small excess of triethyl orthoformate to an alcoholic mixture of NiCl[subscript 2]·6H[subscript 2]O and triphenylphosphine (PPh[subscript 3]) results in an increase in the typical isolated yield of [NiCl[subscript 2](PPh[subscript 3])[subscript 2]] from below 50% to over 85%. The impact of water when present in the reaction…

Many undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry students pursue careers in healthcare. Biomaterials, designed to harmonize with the complexity of the human body, have become increasingly significant in medicine as implants, drug delivery vehicles and tissue scaffolds. We believe it is essential that undergraduates are exposed to biomaterial…

Here, a relatively simple laboratory experiment of a physical pendulum, suitable for students of science and engineering in the first courses of university physics, is presented to illustrate its dynamic behavior and to determine its inertia moment. To this end, a long wooden rod of length L = 99.8 cm and cross-section radius R = 1.73 cm was used…

While elimination reactions are ubiquitous in organic chemistry textbooks, their implementation in undergraduate laboratories still suffers from a lack of reliable and easy setup procedures. This paper describes an easy-to-implement set of elimination experiments in the pentanol and bromopentane series using a modified Hickman distillation head.…

In this laboratory experiment, a guided inquiry exploring the physicochemical principles of the dissolution of Ca(OH)[subscript 2](s) in water is proposed for laboratory classes in university and high school. As part of students' inquiry, two experimental approaches are used. One is the change in solubility with temperature revealed by measuring…

This experiment demonstrates that copper(II) chloride dihydrate (CuCl[subscript 2]·2H[subscript 2]O) in different solvents (acetone, isopropyl alcohol, or water) displays divergent colors and visible-near IR spectra. Both the reactions of these solutions with 2 equiv of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and the direct solid-state reaction of CuCl[subscript…

An undergraduate laboratory experiment has been developed for the synthesis of a reactive cross-linker that is useful in various highly visual demonstrations of organic reactivity, click chemistry, and biobased polymer synthesis. A triazolinedione-based cross-linker, which is known as a useful reagent for click chemistry, can be obtained from…

The carbonyl group of an aldehyde or ketone reacts with different types of nucleophiles through a nucleophilic addition reaction. When the nucleophile is water, the product obtained is a "gem"-diol or geminal diol. This functionalization is unstable and quickly reverts to the parent carbonyl group. The chemistry of "gem"-diols…

A one-pot multicomponent synthesis of unsymmetrical indole-substituted methane derivative based on two consecutive reactions of p-methylbenzaldehyde with N-methylindole and 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione is described as an experiment that was carried out by second-year undergraduate chemistry students individually in a laboratory classroom. The…

S[subscript N]2 reactions are of fundamental importance in introductory organic chemistry courses, and a number of experiments suitable for the first-semester undergraduate organic lab have been previously reported. Most of these experiments have used alkyl halides as electrophiles, but alkyl halides are often less than ideal for reasons of…

A [beta]-lactam, the core structure unit of clinically important antibiotics such as penicillin and cephalosporin, is one of the most commonly encountered four-membered heterocycles in organic chemistry and is widely used in medicine and biochemistry. The Kinugasa reaction, a copper­(I)-catalyzed cycloaddition of a terminal alkyne with a nitrone,…