A pedagogically useful discovery-based undergraduate organic chemistry lab experiment probing the chemo- and diastereoselectivity in the NaBH[subscript 4] reduction of two chiral ketoesters (benzoin acetate and benzoin benzoate) has been developed. This experiment complements a previously described and highly popular discovery-based experiment…

Nanotechnology allows the synthesis of nanoscale catalysts, which offer an efficient alternative for fuel cell applications. In this laboratory experiment, the student selects a cost-effective anode for fuel cells by comparing three different working electrodes. These are commercially available palladium (Pd) and glassy carbon (GC) electrodes, and…

This experiment combines analytical techniques of solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with easily relatable and accessible plant volatile chemistry (floral and vegetative scents of local/available plants). The biosynthesis and structure of these chemicals are of interest in the areas of organic chemistry,…

Energy drinks, as familiar consumer products, have been widely used in laboratory courses to help promote student interest, as well as to connect lecture concepts with laboratory work. Energy drinks contain B vitamins: pyridoxine (vitamin B6) and riboflavin (vitamin B2) of which amounts are high enough to be of concern. In this work, a fast and…

The Distributed Drug Discovery (D3) program trains students in three drug discovery disciplines (synthesis, computational analysis, and biological screening) while addressing the important challenge of discovering drug leads for neglected diseases. This article focuses on implementation of the synthesis component in the second-semester…

The laboratory course is one of the most critical classes in any engineering program. Engineering by its very nature is a practical discipline, and the laboratory course is usually the first and only class where students are given the opportunity to apply the knowledge they are gaining in lecture courses to real-world equipment. As chemical…

A simple apparatus is described which serves as a materials testing laboratory. Bolts are placed in it and subjected to tensile and torsional stress while being tightened. The tensile and torsional stress and strain can be measured, which enables the determination of several mechanical properties of the bolt material, including Young's…

The construction of a voltaic pile (battery) is a simple laboratory activity that commemorates the invention of this important device and is of great help in teaching physics. The voltaic pile is often seen as a scientific toy, with the "pile" being constructed from fruit. These toys use some strips of copper and zinc inserted in a piece…

Gas exchange in animals is ultimately diffusion based, generally occurring across dedicated respiratory organs. In many aquatic amphibians, however, multiple modes of gas exchange exist, allowing for the partitioning of O[subscript 2] uptake and CO[subscript 2] excretion between respiratory organs with different efficiencies. For example, due to…

Acommon undergraduate laboratory experience is the determination of the elastic constant of a spring, whether studying the elongation under a static load or studying the damped harmonic motion of the spring with a suspended mass. An alternative approach to this laboratory experience has been suggested by Menezes et al., aimed at studying the…

Though many undergraduates are interested in medicine, relatively few experiments related to drug design and development are included in introductory chemistry laboratory courses. In this experiment, aqueous solutions of four different drugs (acetaminophen, caffeine, phenacetin, and sulfanilamide) are extracted using 1-octanol, a mimic of the…

Nowadays, the use of data-acquisition systems in undergraduate laboratories is routine. Many computer-assisted experiments became possible with the PASCO scientific data-acquisition system based on the 750 Interface and DataStudio software. A new data-acquisition system developed by PASCO includes the 850 Universal Interface and Capstone software.…

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a process commonly used for the synthesis of thin films for several important technological applications, for example, microelectronics, hard coatings, and smart windows. Unfortunately, the complexity and prohibitive cost of CVD equipment makes it seldom available for undergraduate chemistry students. Here, a…

This paper presents several methods for motivating students taking a power system protection (PSP) course. The paper reviews the laboratory activities developed for the PSP course at Curtin University, Australia; these methods are applicable and can be used for PSP course instruction at any institution. These activities were developed to improve…

Although much of the scientific community concerns itself with ideas of a sustainable future, very little of this interest and motivation has reached the classroom experience of the average chemistry major, and therefore, it is imperative to expose students to these ideas early in their careers. The focus of most undergraduate chemistry curricula…