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…

Cycloadditions in combination with multicomponent reactions are among the most valuable synthetic tools used by organic chemists to construct cyclic and heterocyclic compounds in a straightforward way. Although cycloadditions, such as the Diels--Alder reaction, are mainly covered in basic and advanced organic courses for undergraduate students,…

The understanding of analytical chemistry and its application in different areas of life science is something that should be encouraged for students studying chemistry, and also something that appeals to many students. Life science includes a vast variety of areas, out of which some are more easily approached in student projects. The chemical…

Low-dimensional materials especially graphene-based are of high interest to a broad community. One of the most fundamental aspects in the biomedical field is material characterization, which helps understand their property and tune for application. Though the existing teaching curricula are well standardized to include basic principles and…

Substitution reactions of alcohols are some of the simplest experiments performed in undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory settings. However, the use of gas chromatography (GC) as an analytical tool for these reactions can be at times laborious and time-consuming. In this work, 1-pentanol, 2-pentanol, 3-pentanol, and 2-methyl-2-butanol were…

Optimization of experimental conditions in chromatography is recognized as a wear-and-tear process involving hundreds of experiments in order to maximize the number of separated compounds for each sample. The critical thinking skills and practices entailed cannot be achieved with students in a conventional lecture class. This report provides a…

An operationally simple, reliable synthesis of ethynylated acenes suitable for an upper-division undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory course has been developed. This experiment requires students to synthesize two acene derivatives and can be completed in 6-8 laboratory sessions (3 h each); a shorter experiment could be realized in the…

Introducing elementary concepts of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) to a beginner can be challenging. Using an interactive graphical platform can greatly aid in demonstrating key concepts in such cases. This paper aims to bridge this gap in teaching basic NMR spectroscopy through simple standalone interactive Python programs or a…

Ultraviolet (UV)-visible (Vis) spectroscopy is widely used in all modern laboratories as a routine method of analysis. The monitoring of chemical reactions in an aqueous solution involving a gas product is a demanding task but particularly for oscillatory reactions which are obtainable in a narrow concentration range. In this work, the…

Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions using a curated set of alcohols provide students with the opportunity to combine the study of electrophilic aromatic substitution with carbocation rearrangements. In this experiment students may be presented with up to nine alcohols that yield six products, all synthesized under identical reaction conditions.…

A structured series of activities has been designed and implemented to promote analysis and data reporting skills for second-year organic chemistry students. Student report sheets were developed to assist students in reporting necessary data for their compounds. A series of rubrics have been utilized by students to promote metacognition and by…

Artificial intelligence (AI) driven chatbots provide instant feedback to support learning. Yet, the impacts of different feedback types on behavior and brain activation remain underexplored. We investigated how metacognitive, affective, and neutral feedback from an educational chatbot affected learning outcomes and brain activity using functional…

The autumnal leaf color change is a familiar phenomenon to most students living in temperate climate zones. The extraction and analysis of the pigments of the autumn leaves provide an engaging way to study the phenomenon utilizing both simple as well as more sophisticated analytical methods. In this laboratory experiment, students extract the red…

Research has shown that the use of practical examples in undergraduate education promotes the retention of historically underrepresented students in STEM majors and lowers achievement gaps within courses. Since many students of color and women aspire toward careers in healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry, efforts to incorporate medicinal…

Undergraduate physics laboratory exercises are very important in shaping students' attitude to science, especially for future teachers. Recently, it is necessary to look for ways to easily create large quantities of experimental sets, not only for institutional use, but also for sets that can be produced in large quantities and distributed for use…