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…

A convenient approach to obtain Lewis structures for compounds of the type YX[subscript n] involves first constructing a trial structure that satisfies the valence of the outer atoms (e.g.,1 bond for fluorine, 2 bonds for oxygen, and 3 bonds for nitrogen)and placing the molecular charge (if any) on the central atom. The second step involves…

Valence shell electron pair repulsion theory (VSEPR) as explained in most textbooks predicts that substituents bonded to a central atom in AX[subscript n]E[subscript z][superscript c] species (A = main-group central atom, X = substituent, E = lone pair on central atom, c = charge) will change their X-A-X angles to bend away from the lone pairs.…

A new teaching resource comprised of raw X-ray diffraction data sets from crystallography experiments has been compiled. The aim of this resource is to provide a tool with which to plug the teaching gap between crystals and chemical structures present at various levels of education, as well as providing examples for early stage researchers and…

Biochemistry students at the introductory level easily comprehend the importance of energy-yielding oxidation and reduction biochemical processes, but nevertheless, they fight with words "oxidation" and "reduction" (and with the corresponding adjectives, "oxidized" and "reduced") applied in biochemistry…

The COVID-19 pandemic affected a large range of in-person education activities in Colombia. This created great limitations in academic performance for students with reduced access to communication technologies and deepened the educational gaps in the country. This was particularly true for sciences such as biochemistry. In Colombia, molecular…

A strong understanding of molecular structure is key for mastering structure-function concepts in life sciences and is based on the visualization of biomolecules. Therefore, various approaches to help students translate between the 2D space of a textbook figure to the 3D space of a molecule have been developed. Object-based learning is an approach…

Resonance is a fundamental chemistry concept first introduced to students in General Chemistry I, reintroduced in Organic Chemistry I, and then utilized throughout other higher-level chemistry courses. A molecule or ion can be said to exhibit resonance when it can be represented by two or more chemical structures (i.e., Lewis structures) that…

The initial learning experience is a critical opportunity to support conceptual understanding of abstract STEM concepts. Although hands-on activities and physical three-dimensional models are beneficial, they are seldom utilized and are replaced increasingly by digital simulations and laboratory exercises presented on touchscreen tablet computers.…

Molecular modeling can be used as an excellent teaching method for providing better insight into the mechanism of free radical reactions. Due to its highly visual nature, it can affect and improve students' perception and visualization of chemistry phenomena. The majority of chemistry students will know how to represent a reaction between two free…

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…

The inductive effect is one of the very important concepts of electronic effects in organic chemistry. In traditional teaching methods, only the origin, transmission mode, and decay of the inductive effect are introduced briefly, which is not conducive to students' complete understanding of the inductive effect. This work developed a new method to…

The effectiveness of a formal charge method to draw Lewis structures that was developed by Curnow was studied quantitatively by direct comparison of two groups of students: one of which was taught the new formal charge method and another that was taught a traditional method. Students' marks on a common assessment were found to improve by…

We propose an innovative approach to teaching friction. Our approach aims to educate students on its microscopic nature by highlighting its origin in intermolecular interactions. We have designed a teaching sequence (TS) based on a set of experimental investigations of the properties of a gecko-inspired tape at different length scales. The TS has…

Many approaches to teaching Newman projections and conformational manipulation rely on lecturing using only two-dimensional representations. While molecular models are recognized as useful learning tools, students are often left to figure out how to use them during the initial learning process. The availability of basic online molecular models…