Adsorption of methylene blue and malachite green was carried out using "Luffa cylindrica" sponges as adsorbing material. We provide a very illustrative exercise about the use of common natural materials requiring little preparation to solve environmental tasks in a routine laboratory situation such as using dyes. In addition, the…

To inspire upper-division undergraduate students to gain a deeper understanding of biorefinery, an experiment related to biofuels and lignin-based sunscreen products from corncob was performed in multiple offerings of a summer-semester class. Specifically, corncobs were pretreated with 1% H[subscript 2]SO[subscript 4] to obtain hemicellulose…

A new laboratory experiment investigating the ternary phase equilibrium of water-propan-2-ol-sodium chloride with one-, two-, and three-phase regions has been developed. Observations of the type and number of phases of a series of mixtures of the three components were made, and the results are then used in a systematic way to more finely choose…

An experiment involving a moisture-sensitive synthesis and spectroscopic characterization suitable for the advanced inorganic laboratory course is presented. The acid-base complex ammonia borane (AB) is synthesized from the heterogeneous reaction between sodium borohydride and finely ground ammonium sulfate in tetrahydrofuran solvent. AB is…

The different reactivities between 1°, 2°, and 3° butyl chlorides by the unimolecular nucleophilic substitution (S[subscript N]1) mechanism were easily observed at 60 °C by a solvolysis reaction in ethanol with ether formation. The hydrogen ion from the byproduct HCl reacted with an acid--base indicator such as methyl red to induce a color change.…

An experiment for the upper-division undergraduate biochemistry laboratory is described in which students investigate the influence of genetic variations of cytochrome P450 1A2 on drug metabolism, using caffeine as a model compound. Saliva samples from human subjects are characterized for a single-nucleotide polymorphism in the CYP1A2 gene…

Reported herein is a multidisciplinary laboratory experiment for advanced undergraduate students that includes elements of material synthesis, in the synthesis of cyclodextrin-containing metal-organic frameworks (CD-MOFs), and environmental chemistry, in the use of these MOFs for pollutant removal. This multiday laboratory experiment starts with…

Although the teaching of mechanics at advanced K12 levels often starts with a brief introduction to physical quantities and units, the nature and function of measurements in physics and their inherent uncertainty are hardly ever discussed. The laboratory is mainly used to illustrate the theoretical principles taught in class. This paper presents a…

Disrupting a gene to determine its effect on an organism's phenotype is an indispensable tool in molecular biology. Such techniques are critical for understanding how a gene product contributes to the development and cellular identity of organisms. The explosion of genomic sequencing technologies combined with recent advances in genome-editing…

The case study approach provides students with a better appreciation of how scientists solve problems and conduct themselves in the "real world". When applied to the undergraduate chemistry laboratory, this approach also challenges critical thinking skills and creativity in ways "cook book" experiments very often do not. This…

This is the story of how an enterprising high school student came to my lab one afternoon, asking if there were any way that he could gain "hands-on" lab experience by working with me. While I had some doubts about allowing him to work in an area with an expensive 150-mW focused laser beam, I eventually said yes. I was well aware that a…

A laboratory experiment often performed in an introductory electricity and magnetism course involves the mapping of equipotential lines on a conductive sheet between two objects at different potentials. In this article, we describe how we have expanded this experiment so that it can be used to illustrate the electrostatic properties of conductors.…

We have designed a 4 h physical chemistry laboratory to introduce upper division students to electrochemistry concepts, including mixed valency and electron transfer (ET), using cyclic and differential pulse voltammetries. In this laboratory practice, students use a ferrocene dimer consisting of two ferrocene centers covalently bonded through a…

Multidisciplinary lab experiments combining microfluidics, nanoparticle synthesis, and characterization are presented. These experiments rely on the implementation of affordable yet efficient microfluidic setups based on perfluoroalkoxyalkane (PFA) capillary coils and standard HPLC connectors in upper undergraduate chemistry laboratories.…

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have been shown to increase student retention and learning in the biological sciences. Most CURES cover only one aspect of gene regulation, such as transcriptional control. Here we present a new inquiry-based lab that engages understanding of gene expression from multiple perspectives.…