Is the reductionist approach to teaching chemical principles in the laboratory adequate for students to make effective evaluations? In this work, using the example of sunscreens, students first assessed the analytical chemistry parameters of the active ingredients, later comparing and contrasting them with organic chemistry information for…

The methodology and mathematical treatment of several classic multivariate methods for the analysis of spectroscopic data is demonstrated in a straightforward way that can be used as a basis for teaching an undergraduate introductory course on chemometric analysis. The multivariate techniques of classical least-squares (CLS), principal component…

Stars are point-source emitters that are the closest to the definition of a blackbody in comparison to all other similar sources of radiation found in nature. Existing libraries on stellar spectra are thus a valuable resource that can be used to introduce the laws of thermal radiation in a classroom setting. In this article we briefly describe…

A simple diffraction experiment was designed using banana stem as natural grating. Coherent beams of lasers with wavelengths of 632.8 nm and 532 nm that pass through banana stem produce periodic diffraction patterns on a screen. The diffraction experiments were able to measure the distances between the slit of the banana stem, i.e. d = (28.76 ±…

Computational approaches toward simulating chemical systems and evaluating experimental data has gathered great momentum in recent years. The onset of more powerful computers and advanced software has been instrumental to this end. This manuscript presents a hands-on activity which trains students in basic coding skills within the Matlab…

Small organic molecules offer a rich opportunity to discuss the interplay of chemical structure with properties such as the melting point and phenomena such as glass formation and can form the basis of fundamental considerations of structure-property relationships in macromolecules. Of particular importance are thermal transitions, specifically…

A guided inquiry-based experiment exploring the regioselectivity of the hydration of phenylacetylene is described. The experiment uses an acidic gold(III) catalyst in a benign methanol/water solvent system to introduce students to alkyne chemistry and key principles of green chemistry. The experiment can be easily completed in approximately 2 h,…

Low cost, open-source analytical instrumentation has the potential to increase educational outcomes for students and enable large-scale citizen science projects. Many of these instruments rely on smartphones to collect the data, mainly because they can effectively leverage a dramatic price-to-performance ratio of the optical sensors. However,…

In an effort to repurpose expired guaifenesin tablets, experiments devised for practical instruction are reported for the preparation and isolation of the guaifenesin acetonide using a microscale kit. The laboratory experiment successfully utilizes a waste chemical in lieu of a fine chemical to illustrate the principles behind protecting groups in…

A very simple protocol for teaching Beer's Law and absorption spectrophotometry using a smart phone is described. Materials commonly found in high school chemistry laboratories or even around the house may be used. Data collection and analysis is quick and easy. Despite the simple nature of the experiment, excellent results can be achieved.

This article describes a combined UV-photometer and fluorimeter constructed from 3 LEDs and a few wires, all held in place with Lego bricks. The instrument has a flexible design. In its simplest version, two UV-LEDs (355 nm) are used as light source and to detect absorption, and a third LED, in the visible spectrum (e.g., 525 nm), is used to…

Exothermic reactions can present safety hazards and there is a recognized need for reaction safety education at the undergraduate level. We present an experiment that illustrates the pitfall of direct scale-up of an exothermic reaction that can lead to thermal runaway. The iodide-catalyzed hydrogen peroxide decomposition reaction yields…

This paper reports an undergraduate laboratory experiment to measure heterogeneous liquid/gas reaction kinetics (ozone-oleic acid and ozone-phenothrin) using a flow reactor coupled to an attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectrometer. The experiment is specially designed for an upper-level undergraduate Physical…

Chemical engineering is mostly taught using traditional classroom teaching and laboratory experiments when possible. Being a wide discipline encompassing topics such as analytical chemistry, process design, and microbiology, it may be argued that brewing of beer has many relations to chemical engineering topic-wise. This work illustrates how…

While orthoesters are often used by chemists as alkylating, acylating, and formylating agents, they are rarely encountered in introductory organic chemistry curricula. We describe a second-semester organic chemistry laboratory experiment in which students acetylate unknown amine hydrochloride salts with trimethyl orthoacetate (TMOA) in the absence…