The preparation of ethyl acetoacetate is a distinctive, century-old classic organic chemistry laboratory project. Ethyl acetate and sodium metal (sodium ethoxide) are reacted by Claisen ester condensation to produce the sodium salt of ethyl acetoacetate and then obtain the refined product by acidification as well as washing, drying, and…

The dissolution of cobalt­(II) chloride in an appropriate binary alcohol solvent yields an equilibrium mixture, consisting of the differently colored octahedral (pink in color) and tetrahedral (blue in color) cobalt­(II) coordination complexes, which can exhibit a brilliant and reversible pink-to-blue color transition over a ~10 °C window - i.e.,…

Colloidal stability is one of the most important criteria in the application strategy of colloidal nanoparticles in the continuous phase. The branches include ecology, involving coagulation as a purification method; medicine as nanocarriers; biology as blood coagulation, etc. A chemist versed in these concepts is a high-performing chemist in…

This computational exercise gives students an in-depth look at the reactants, transition state, and product of the crystal violet alkaline hydrolysis reaction. The exercise, which is aimed at second semester general chemistry students, involves DFT energy calculations on five structures: crystal violet cation, crystal violet alcohol, and 4-water…

Student engagement in evidence-based argumentation plays a central role in science education. These skills can be developed when identifying organic molecules from the spectroscopic data. Molecular structural analysis fosters deep procedural knowledge, as it involves (i) flexibly applying a set of procedures to extract information from spectra,…

Paal--Knorr reactions are a classical method for synthesizing pyrroles, using 1,4-dicarbonyl compound and amine as reactants. It has the characteristics of green chemistry, as only two molecules of water are lost. In this teaching and learning experiment, 2,5-hexanedione and 4-"tert"-butylaniline were used to synthesize…

A systematic literature review across multiple scientific disciplines was conducted to explore students' understanding of atomic structure, focusing on students' ACs. A total of 112 publications between 1972 and 2023 were selected for the study. Within the selected body of literature, 851 instances of ACs were distributed across students ranging…

This review extends on previously reported findings in which students were asked to construct Reaction Coordinate Diagrams (RCDs) de novo. Instead of asking students to construct RCDs, this study explores students' understanding of kinetics and thermodynamics when provided with mechanisms for the Aldol and Claisen condensations. Data was collected…

Hybridization is a bonding model, universally used in organic chemistry, which allows consideration of two-electron localized bonds in organic molecules. Without hybridization, it is almost impossible to describe aspects such as hyperconjugation for the stabilization of carbocations and alkane conformers. Hybridization is often presented in…

Communities of practice in STEM education are important for promoting the improvement of teaching in the postsecondary curriculum. One community in particular is the Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists (IONiC). IONiC aims to advance inorganic chemistry education through the creation of curricular materials (i.e., learning objects).…

Chemistry graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) have substantial facetime with undergraduate students at large research institutions where they lead discussion and lab sessions. Emerging research describes GTAs' content and teaching knowledge for introductory chemistry classes, but we need to know more about how GTAs manage their classes in the…

A material commonly known as Flubber, with properties that are excellent for teaching about glaciers, has been widely used in geosciences education. Yet, the original recipe contains borax, which has health risks that should be avoided. A new recipe is shared containing low-cost, readily available ingredients that produces a reformulated Flubber…

A major challenge when designing new experiments for the general chemistry laboratory is introducing students to the necessary techniques while keeping the experiment engaging and accessible. This work presents a new multiweek activity designed to introduce students to advanced instrumentation in the form of high-performance liquid chromatography…

Chirality continues to intrigue scientists because of its implications in various scientific areas, including the long-unsolved question of its development and link with the origin of life. Chirality plays a significant role in medicine with the advent of chiral drugs and the consequent importance of asymmetric synthesis. For many undergraduate…

Under the appropriate conditions, oscillatory chemical reactions have the capacity to generate chemical waves and spatial patterns. Among these structures, Turing patterns are a distinct class that, to date, has not been commonly demonstrated in a classroom environment. We present here a novel, practical procedure for the demonstration of Turing…