This work describes the design, building, and testing of miniature, low-cost LED-LDR colorimeters for absorption-spectrophotometry experiments. It also describes using these colorimeters for simplified context-based-learning (CBL) activities in school teaching laboratories and for public-engagement events. The colorimeters are simple and robust,…

Understanding how to perform an enzyme assay is a critical learning skill in the undergraduate biochemistry curriculum. Students in biochemistry typically have been exposed to the use of NMR spectroscopy as a tool to determine chemical structure, but rarely are they exposed to the utility of NMR to evaluate enzyme kinetics. Furthermore, coverage…

Plants encounter several different threats that affect their well-being during the spring. With chemistry, plants may defend themselves from, for example, excess UV-radiation and herbivores. The defense compounds between plant species vary, which makes it possible to utilize chemistry in identifying the plant species. In this laboratory…

An operationally straightforward, project-like laboratory experiment has been developed in which students directly compare the reactivity of two heterocycles, a cyclic "O,O"-acetal (standard C-O protecting group) and a cyclic "N,O"-acetal (oxazolidine), toward sodium borohydride and methylmagnesium iodide. Students synthesize a…

One dimensional (1-D)[superscript 1] H and [superscript 13]C NMR experiments are common tools used in undergraduate organic laboratories to characterize synthesized molecules. However, 1-D NMR spectra cannot always provide unambiguous structure determination. In research laboratories, advanced NMR spectroscopy methods are employed for structural…

Here, we developed an integrated course based on two dimensional-electrophoresis and spectrometry mass (2DE-MS) technique for undergraduate students to help them learn proteomic techniques. The soluble proteins in wild type and gene knockout bacteria were separated by 2DE and the differently expressed proteins were identified by MS analysis. The…

Mass spectrometers are ever-increasingly powerful, user-friendly, and affordable. Thus, the addition of mass spectrometry experiments into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum is now both feasible and an effective tool to introduce students to relevant instrumentation. Here an experiment demonstrating the use of a high-resolution electrospray…

Given student familiarity with electronic cigarettes (e-cigs), this lab uses a student-built smoke collection apparatus to collect e-cig vapors to teach students about gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Students in a second semester, introductory organic chemistry course spent 1 week collecting e-cig vapors and 1 week qualitatively…

Demonstration of a colorimetric approach for nucleic acid detection represents an attractive educational experiment for chemistry undergraduate students in the time of coronavirus pandemic. Herein, a rapid and vivid detection method that visualizes the presence of a specific DNA sequence is described. The plasmon resonance of gold nanoparticles…

A multifaceted experiment, accessible to students either in an introductory organic chemistry course or in a more advanced laboratory setting, is described for investigating the addition of dichlorocarbene to E- and Z-[beta]-methylstyrenes. The innovative exercise, which integrates elements of synthesis, mechanisms, instrumental analysis,…

An experiment for the synthesis of N-acyl derivatives of natural amino acids has been developed as part of the Distributed Drug Discovery (D3) program. Students use solid-phase synthesis techniques to complete a three-step, combinatorial synthesis of six products, which are analyzed using LC-MS and NMR spectroscopy. This protocol is suitable for…

We have developed a laboratory project in which students prepare liposomes, expose them to hyperosmotic and hypoosmotic solutions, and follow the resulting shrinking and swelling (respectively) with laser light scattering. Each light intensity transient can be fit to an exponential decline or rise, with the decay constant (k) and the amplitude…

Gas-phase nitrogen oxides are important in the formation of tropospheric ozone. NO[subscript x] (NO and NO[subscript 2]) as well as tropospheric ozone have been shown to have negative effects on human health. Therefore, accurately measuring NO[subscript x] concentrations in the atmosphere is important. In this laboratory experience, students…

The separation of chamazulene from hydrophilic contaminants present in blue tansy oil provides a visually engaging example of two common techniques: extraction and thin-layer chromatography (TLC). This application uses liquid CO[subscript 2] as a lipophilic solvent to pull a brilliant blue hydrocarbon molecule, chamazulene, out of or through a…

Expensive, highly reflective barium sulfate plates are typically used to obtain solid-state UV-vis electronic spectra. Through normal laboratory use these plates become dirty, chip, and break, thus requiring replacement. An alternative to purchasing new plates is to make your own by combining a mechanical stabilizer, such as gum arabic, with…