The purpose of this paper is to capture the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of university professors about quantum chemistry. More specifically, we aimed to identify and analyze relationships between specific PCK components, using an adapted version of the model of PCK of Magnusson "et al.". A sample of university professors (n = 6)…

This study focussed on secondary school (11-18 years) pre-service teachers' (n = 73) knowledge of and attitudes towards risks associated with alpha, beta, and gamma radiations. A multi-method approach was used with physics, chemistry, biology, and history graduates undertaking the one-year initial teacher training, Post Graduate Certificate in…

Women and their creativity are underrepresented in science. To date, few women have been awarded the Nobel Prize in science. Eleven female Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and physiology/medicine between 1901 and 2006 were compared with 37 males who received the Nobel Prize in the same area one year prior and one year after the women. Data…

For more than 200 years, the beautiful "molybdenum blue solutions" have been a puzzle for chemists because they could not determine the molecular structures of the solutes while experiments showing the Tyndall effect proved the presence of "giant species". This problem was finally solved in Bielefeld. As a result of this discovery, novel inorganic…

We present a new laboratory experiment on the photochemistry of organometallic [eta][superscript 5],[eta][superscript 6]-mixed-sandwich compounds, which is suitable for both the physical chemistry and inorganic chemistry laboratory. Specifically, students use 1,10-phenanthroline to trap the intermediate formed when…

The experiment demonstrating the feasibility of using water as a solvent for organic reactions which highlights the cost and environmental benefits of its use is presented. The experiment encourages students to think in terms of the reaction mechanism of the oxidation of aldehydes knowing that potassium persulfate is the active oxidant in Oxone…

Preparation of phenylmagnesium bromide described by Eckert, addition of three equivalents of Grignard reagent to diethyl carbonate to form triphenylmethanol and a series of GC-MS procedures that form intermediates. The analysis is consistent with a gas chromatogram and mass spectrum for each of the expected intermediates and final product of the…

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is a very simple and effective technique that is used by chemists by different purposes, including the monitoring of the progress of a reaction. TLC can also be easily used for the analysis and identification of various acid-base indicator dyes.

The different methods used for computing labile metal-ligand complexes, which are suitable for an iterative computer solution, are illustrated. The ligand function has allowed students to relegate otherwise tedious iterations to a computer, while retaining complete control over what is calculated.

A short history of chemical shifts in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) and Mossbauer spectroscopy, which are useful for chemical studies, is described. The term chemical shift is shown to have originated in the mistaken assumption that nuclei of a given element would all undergo resonance at the…

The problem of the equilibrium state of an isolated composite system with a movable internal adiabatic wall is a recurrent one in the literature. Classical equilibrium thermodynamics is unable to predict the equilibrium state, unless supplemented with information about the process taking place. This conclusion is clearly demonstrated in this…

Decades ago Buerger described and later Palmer reviewed stuffed silica crystal structures widely used by mineralogists. Many publications and books have discussed common crystal structures in terms of close-packing of one set of atoms or ions (P sites) with other atoms or ions in tetrahedral (T) or octahedral (O) sites. Douglas and Ho described…

A one-pot conversion of tricyclic cationic drugs to their quaternary ammonium forms is described for a widely used bioactive drug: chlorpromazine, a phenothiazine-based antipsychotic. After conversion to its free base, the parent drug was methylated using substoichiometric amounts of methyl iodide dissolved in ether; the charged quaternary…

The Cope rearrangement is a highly stereospecific, concerted reaction of considerable synthetic utility. Experimental product distributions from the reaction of disubstituted 1,5-hexadienes can be readily understood by computer modeling of the various possible transitions states. Semi-empirical methods give relative energies of transition states…

A highly simplified model for helium dimers that reproduces their essential features without the need for elaborate computation is presented. The He-He potential is predicted to have minimum of 10.9 K at a nuclear separation of 5.61 bohrs.