An experiment for the undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory is described in which students synthesize the commercial antidepressant drug moclobemide, marketed under the trade name Manerix. This one-step synthesis starts from commercially available material and produces moclobemide in high yield. The product is initially isolated as its…

A four-part experiment that leads to the synthesis of a cyclopentadienyl chloro-nickel(II) complex bearing a N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand is presented. In the first part, the preparation of 1,3-bis-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazolium chloride (IMes[middle dot]HCl) in a one-pot procedure by reaction of 2,4,6-trimethylaniline with…

In this laboratory activity, students are introduced to the synthesis of an albendazole metabolite obtained by a sulfide oxidation reaction. Albendazole as well as its metabolite, albendazole sulfoxide, are used as anthelmintic drugs. The oxidation reagent is H[subscript 2]O[subscript 2] in acetic acid. The reaction is environmental friendly,…

The relationship between pH and the aqueous solubility of heavy metals is explored by considering the environmental impact of acidic mine drainage. Acid mine drainage is an important environmental concern in many areas of the United States. Associated with coal mining in the East and hard rock mining in the West, the acidity originates primarily…

Carbohydrates, in the form of glycoconjugates, have recently been shown to control a wide range of cellular processes. Accordingly, students interested in the study of organic chemistry and biomedical sciences should be exposed to carbohydrate chemistry. To this end, we have developed a sequence of experiments that leads the student from the…

This article describes a laboratory experiment that allows the students to investigate the radiative properties of the green and red emitting phosphors that are employed in commercial fluorescent lamps. Making use of a spectrofluorometer, students first record the emission spectrum of a fluorescent lamp under normal operating conditions, and then…

The present article describes some activities performed with high-school students in the "Solar Physics" course developed in a Brazilian science centre. The topics of chemical composition, temperature and stellar evolution were taught in a room totally dedicated to study of the Sun, a solar room, designed with simple and inexpensive…

The spectroscopic-based luminescence experiments were designed to expose the students to various concepts of single-triplet excited states, electron spin, vibrational relaxation, fluorescence-phosphorescence lifetimes and quenching. The students were able to learn about luminescence spectra of the gel and have the experience of synthesizing a…

Word segmentation, that is, discovering the boundaries between words that are embedded in a continuous speech stream, is an important faculty for language learners; humans solve this task partly by calculating transitional probabilities between sounds. Behavioral and ERP studies suggest that detection of sequential probabilities (statistical…

Radical chemistry is a fundamental subject of undergraduate organic chemistry. While well described in organic textbooks, laboratory manuals rarely address this topic, focusing instead on syntheses using polar reactions. Herein, we describe a colorimetric assay using the persistent radical 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) to measure the…

We developed an alternative electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction for the organic chemistry teaching laboratory. The experiment is an electrophilic iodination reaction of salicylamide, a popular analgesic, using environmentally friendly reagents--sodium iodide and household bleach. Further, we designed the lab as a guided-inquiry…

Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy is a useful technique for measuring the infrared spectra of solids and liquids as well as probing adsorption on particle surfaces. Several examples of the use of FTIR-ATR spectroscopy in different undergraduate chemistry laboratory courses are presented here. These…

We describe an experiment for the undergraduate organic laboratory curriculum in which 2-bromoacetophenone is converted to 2-fluoroacetophenone using a solid-phase nucleophilic fluorine source. The experiment introduces students to the utility of solid-phase reagents in organic synthesis, to NMR-active nuclei other than [to the first power]H…

Equipment for demonstrating Newton's third law and the energy conservation law in mechanics have successfully been constructed utilizing fine spherical plastic beads in place of metal ball bearings. To demonstrate Newton's third law, special magnetized Petri dishes were employed as objects, while to examine the energy conservation law, a…

One of the principles of sustainable development is to replace chemicals traditionally derived from oil with alternative, renewable materials. For example, phenol and phenol derivatives currently used in the manufacture of wood adhesives can be replaced (at least in part) by biopolymers extracted from biomass. In this work, pine bark (a renewable…