A systems thinking approach to incorporating green chemistry and safety into laboratory culture is vital, as chemists will be at the molecular level of the innovative solutions to our global challenges. Training chemists to have the skills and culture to accomplish this feat in the safest way possible is pivotal to safe working conditions within…

One of the more difficult concepts introduced in the first-year undergraduate course, general chemistry, is that of chirality. Typically, left and right hands are the common, macroscopic objects of reference used to demonstrate the quality of being nonsuperimposable, followed by the use of a mirror and molecular models, to illustrate molecular…

This article highlights some of the challenges in explaining simple substituent effects on keto-enol equilibria, particularly to an undergraduate audience. Quantum-chemical calculations were performed to identify the role of intramolecular hydrogen bonding, inductive effects due to electron-withdrawing groups, and cross-conjugation on the…

This paper describes the design and implementation of a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) sequence in chemistry that links a lower-division, organic chemistry course to an upper-division, analytical chemistry course. The focus of student research is on blood preservation using trehalose derivatives in order to mimic the…

Selecting less hazardous chemicals is a core tenet of green chemistry but is difficult to teach in practice. The upper-year undergraduate or graduate level exercise described here empowers students to make such decisions themselves. Students are tasked with finding the greenest chemical for a specific purpose described in a hypothetical scenario,…

When organic students are asked to design a total synthesis of a molecule, they are often overwhelmed by the multitude of possible transformations. A decision tree is a useful tool to break complex problems up into simpler steps and scaffold the thinking process that many seasoned chemists take for granted. While many comprehensive resources…

IUPAC nomenclature competence (INC)--defined as the ability to name chemical structures using IUPAC rules and draw structures from IUPAC names--is considered a foundational skill in the training of professional chemists. For students of non-European language background, the challenge of acquiring INC is often complicated by the fact that IUPAC…

This study proposes a lab experiment consisting of three consecutive steps designed to expose undergraduate students to the fundamental aspects of nanoscience. Two different procedures for the reduction of silver ions were provided: Th was obtained. Next, the students explored the aggregation process of silver nanoparticles by converting one…

An augmented reality (AR) application and an activity worksheet have been developed to support students in visualizing the concepts involved when solving [superscript 1]H NMR problems. This instructional resource was designed to encourage conceptual problem-solving and prevent memorization by eliminating the use of chemical shift tables. It uses…

Gold nanoparticles are exciting materials in nanotechnology and nanoscience research and are being applied across a wide range of fields including imaging, chemical sensing, energy storage, and cancer therapies. In this experiment, students will synthesize two sizes of gold nanospheres (~20 and ~100 nm) and will create gold nanostars utilizing a…

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is the tool of choice for organic chemists to determine the molecular structure of organic molecules and, as a result, is a fundamental topic in the organic chemistry curriculum. A novel laboratory module has been developed to expand the scope of NMR spectroscopy beyond structure validation at the…

Performing the identification of organic chemical compounds from a set of spectroscopic data gives the opportunity to students to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. In this context, we developed a student-centered methodology for teaching molecular structural analysis to first-year undergraduate students. This systematic…

Anthocyanins are natural pigments belonging to the flavonoid family that generate the red, blue, and purple colors of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Their structure and color are dependent on various factors, like the pH. Anthocyanins appear red in acidic, purple in neutral, and blue in basic solutions, making them suitable for use as natural pH…

Facile visualization of biomolecules is an essential component of the undergraduate biochemistry curriculum. In the past, a number of tools have been used to display biomolecules. More recently, the advent of greater accessibility to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) programs has created a new mechanism to visualize biomolecules.…

There is a disconnect between the cutting-edge research done in academic laboratories, such as nanotechnology, and what is taught in undergraduate laboratories. In the current undergraduate curriculum, very few students get a chance to do hands-on experiments in nanotechnology-related fields, most of which are through selective undergraduate…