The American Chemical Society advocates a shift from rule-based to risk-based safety education for chemistry graduates, emphasizing meaningful student engagement in the risk assessment process for laboratory work. To implement this paradigm shift, we introduced RAMP (Recognize Hazards, Assess Risk, Minimize Risk, and Prevent Emergencies)-based…

This communication describes an updated experiment of peptide synthesis, involving determination of the loading capacity of a Fmoc-protected amino functionalized resin using UV-vis spectroscopy and a subsequent synthesis of a dipeptide in order to exemplify the experimental solid-phase synthesis procedure as an alternative technique in organic…

We have developed a curriculum for the organic chemistry laboratory in which students draw on authentic usage of spectroscopy, spectrometry, and computational chemistry to explain chemical phenomena. This curriculum, which has been continuously refined over a decade, has been explored by many thousands of students and is scalable to small and…

This paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of an inquiry-based laboratory for sophomore-level organic chemistry into a mostly cookbook, existing laboratory curriculum. For the laboratory, students were required to generate their own procedures and use their own recorded data from prior laboratory assignments to identify an…

Equal access to an instructor's time and attention can be a barrier experienced by many underrepresented minorities. An instructor's own biases will determine the nature of their interaction with students, and even well-meaning instructors can interact with students in differential ways, which might prevent certain students from having access to…

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has become a cornerstone tool for studying a variety of molecular features in advanced chemistry laboratories. In this experiment, students prepare a pyrrole-[beta]-amide via a one-pot, three-step synthesis and use NMR spectroscopy to confirm its molecular structure. In addition, variable temperature…

An instructional research-like multiweek laboratory project for a second-semester introductory general chemistry laboratory course has been developed. The ultrasonic-assisted synthesis method using low cost commercial ultrasonic cleaners has the convenience of running multiple students' reactions simultaneously. Taking advantage of short reaction…

Single-outcome experiments are used in the undergraduate instructional laboratory, particularly for large lectures associated with multiple sections of instructional laboratories, due in large part to efficiencies associated with chemical purchases, experiment preparations, and assessments. Despite the practical advantages, single-outcome…

As the COVID-19 pandemic posed a great deal of challenge to the higher education community, the curricula for online instruction had to be developed in a very short time period. Adaptations for Organic Chemistry I and II with Laboratory courses have been made for the online transition in response to the pandemic, and the insights gained through…

Since at least the 1960s, organic chemistry textbooks have featured pK[subscript a] tables for organic acids that include values for H[subscript 2]O and H[subscript 3]O[superscript +] (15.74 and -1.74, respectively) that are thermodynamically and chemically indefensible. Here we trace this error back to Brønsted's early contributions in the 1920s…

Undergraduate laboratories generally teach an understanding of chemical reactivity using bulk or semimicroscale experiments with product isolation and subsequent chemical and spectroscopic analysis. In this study students were exposed to mass spectrometry as a means of chemical synthesis as well as analysis. The ionization method used, paper…

An approach using Google Groups as method for distributing student-acquired NMR data has been implemented. We describe how to configure NMR spectrometer software so that data is uploaded to a laboratory section specific Google Group, thereby removing bottlenecks associated with printing and processing at the spectrometer workstation. Outside of…

Chemoselectivity is a central concept in organic synthesis and may be readily appreciated in the context of the fragrant, polyfunctional natural product citral. We describe three single-step reactions students may perform on citral to synthesize other natural perfumes: citronellal, geraniol, nerol, or epoxycitral. Each of the reactions uses a…

This laboratory experiment was developed to provide a safe, economical, and effective way to instruct undergraduate organic chemistry students about the unimolecular nucleophilic substitution (S[subscript N]1) reaction. Students treat 2,5-dimethyl-2,5-hexanediol with excess concentrated hydrochloric acid to synthesize…

A novel undergraduate chemistry experiment involving superabsorbent polymers commonly used in diapers and other personal care products is described. Students observe the removal of divalent transition-metal ions from aqueous solutions by the polymers. With the procedures provided, students are able to color the superabsorbent polymers with metal…