Graphene's unique combination of exceptional mechanical, electronic, and thermal properties makes this material a promising candidate to enable next-generation technologies in a wide range of fields, including electronics, energy, and medicine. However, educational activities involving graphene have been limited due to the high expense and…

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) studies of art represent an attractive way to introduce undergraduate students to concepts in nanoscience, vibrational spectroscopy, and instrumental analysis. Here, we present an undergraduate analytical or physical chemistry laboratory wherein a combination of normal Raman and SERS spectroscopy is used to…

For most chemistry curricula, laboratory-based activities in quantitative and instrumental analysis continue to be an important aspect of student development/training, one that can be more effective if conceptual understanding is delivered through an inquiry-based process relating the material to relevant issues of public interest and student…

An upper-division organic chemistry laboratory experiment exploring fluorescent sensing over two laboratory periods and part of a third is described. Two functionally distinct pH-responsive sensors are prepared through a dehydrative three-component coupling reaction. During the abbreviated (<1 h) first laboratory period, students set up…

This paper describes an inexpensive experiment to determine the carbonyl stretching frequency of an organic keto compound in its ground state and first electronic excited state. The experiment is simple to execute, clarifies some of the fundamental concepts of spectroscopy, and is appropriate for a basic spectroscopy laboratory course. The…

We developed a simple, cost-effective, and eco-friendly method to synthesize gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) with red fluorescence. The experiment was performed using HAuCl[subscript 4], egg white, Na[subscript 2]CO[subscript 3] (known as soda ash or washing soda), and a microwave oven. In our experiment, fluorescent AuNCs were prepared within a…

Numerous nanoparticle (NP) fabrication methodologies employ "bottom-up" syntheses, which may result in heterogeneous mixtures of NPs or may require toxic capping agents to reduce NP polydispersity. Tangential flow filtration (TFF) is an alternative "green" technique for the purification, concentration, and size-selection of…

Photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) is a new addition to the Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry curriculum. This article explains the rationale for its inclusion, an overview of how the PES instrument records data, how the data can be analyzed, and how to include PES data in the course. Sample assessment items and analysis are included, as well as…

The stretching modes of ML[subscript "x"] complexes have the same symmetry as the atomic orbitals on M that are used to form its s bonds. In the exercise suggested here, the atomic orbitals are used to derive the form of the stretching modes without the need for formal group theory. The analogy allows students to help understand many…

Franck-Condon factors (FCFs) play a crucial role in determining the intensities of the vibrational bands in electronic transitions. In this article, a relatively simple method to calculate the FCFs is illustrated. An algorithm for the Fourier Grid Hamiltonian (FGH) method for computing the vibrational wave functions and the corresponding energy…

Efforts to provide active research context to introductory courses in basic sciences are likely to better engage learners and provide a framework for relevant concepts. A simple teaching and learning experiment was conducted to use concepts in organic chemistry to solve problems in the life sciences. Bryant University is a liberal arts university…

Experiments are described that introduce students to the important concepts of host-guest chemistry and size exclusion in porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The experiment has been successfully carried out in both introductory and advanced-level inorganic chemistry laboratories. Students synthesized the porous MOF, alpha-Mg[subscript…

A data set of 7,381 molecular iodine vapor rovibronic transitions between the X and B electronic states has been prepared for an advanced undergraduate spectroscopic analysis project. Students apply standard theoretical techniques to these data and determine the values of three X-state constants (image omitted) and four B-state constants (image…

An in-depth understanding of all parameters that affect an instrumental analysis method, allowing students to explore how these instruments work so that they are not just a "black box," is key to being able to optimize the technique and obtain the best possible results. It is, however, impractical to provide such in depth coverage of…

A fluorescence spectroscopy experiment is described where students integrated biochemistry and instrumental analysis, while characterizing the green fluorescent protein excitation and emission spectra in terms of its phenolic and phenolate chromophores. Students studied the combined effect of pH and temperature on the protein's fluorescence,…