Various modern electronic structure methods are now days used to teach computational chemistry to undergraduate students. Such quantum calculations can now be easily used even for large size molecules.

The stereochemical features of molecules can have far reaching effects in many areas of science including medicinal chemistry, materials chemistry, and supramolecular chemistry. There have been many techniques developed over the years to determine the absolute configuration of alkenes: the R,S configuration of chiral centers and the most stable…

Many carbonyl substrates of oxidoreductase enzymes undergo hydration and enolization so that these substrate systems are partitioned between keto, hydrated (gem-diol), and enol forms in aqueous solution. Some oxidoreductase enzymes are subject to inhibition by high concentrations of substrate. For such enzymes, two questions arise pertaining to…

A fourth-year capstone course offers students an opportunity to integrate topics covered in the core disciplinary courses, to learn an advanced interdisciplinary topic, and to approach unfamiliar problems and literature. This article describes a fourth-year capstone course designed to incorporate components of faculty lectures, student seminars,…

Biological mass spectrometry is an important analytical technique in drug discovery, proteomics, and research at the biology-chemistry interface. Currently, few hands-on opportunities exist for undergraduate students to learn about this technique. With the 2002 Nobel Prize being awarded, in part, for the development of biological mass…

When neural events are analyzed as stimuli and responses, functional relations among them and among overt stimuli and responses can be unveiled. The integration of neuroscience and the experimental analysis of behavior is beginning to provide empirical evidence of involvement of neural events in the three-term contingency relating discriminative…

Background: Patients with Xp22.3 interstitial and terminal deletions have been shown to be affected by intellectual disability (ID) or autism. Previously, "VCX-A" (variably charged protein X-A), located at Xp22.3, was introduced as a gene for ID and its presence was suggested to be sufficient to maintain normal mental development. Recent reports…

The changes that have taken place in the organic chemistry laboratory course since 1980s are reviewed with reference to the quantity and diversity of discovery-based experiments available to date. The data illustrates that significant progress is towards accomplishing dramatic changes such as the almost universal adoption of microscale, the use of…

Random-climb models enable undergraduate chemistry students to visualize polymer molecules, quantify their configurational properties, and relate molecular structure to a variety of physical properties. The model could serve as an introduction to more elaborate models of polymer molecules and could help in learning topics such as lattice models of…

The nanotechnology degree programs initiated at various institutions provided an excellent way of learning to look at the amazing opportunities that arise when various disciplines of science interact. The enrolled students were actively engaged in the subject matter and also expressed greater confidence in their ability to consider technology with…

An exercise is described that has illustrated the effect of various factors on [pi] backbonding to carbonyl ligands, where the students can view the molecular orbitals corresponding to the M-CO [pi] interaction as well as the competing interaction between the metal and co-ligands. The visual and hands-on nature of the modeling exercise has helped…

An experiment is designed where students will be using both gold and silver nanoparticles to study the enhancement factors of organic molecules adsorbed to the surface of the nanoparticles during or after synthesis by using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The experiment has helped students learn about the theory and experimental…

Experiments suited for the undergraduate instructional laboratory in which the heats of formation of several aliphatic and aromatic compounds are calculated, are described. The experiments could be used to introduce students to commercially available computational chemistry and its thermodynamics, while assess and compare the energy content of…

Particle production and solids processing are essential components of the contemporary process industries. Crystalline solids represent a large and important segment of this manufacturing sector. Chemical engineers, especially in the United States, have historically abandoned this subject, leaving it to pharmacists, physical chemists, material…

Outlines the prospects of generating coherent x rays using high-power lasers and indentifies problem areas in their development. Indicates possible applications for coherent x rays in the fields of chemistry, biology, and crystallography. (GS)