A variety of fruits and vegetables, including raspberries, blueberries, Concord grapes, blackberries, strawberries, peaches, eggplant, red cabbage, and red onions, contain flavonoid compounds known as anthocyanins that are responsible for the blue-red color and the astringent taste associated with such foods. In addition, anthocyanins exhibit a…

A [superscript 1]H NMR spectroscopy-based laboratory experiment explores mono- and disaccharide structural chemistry, and the enzyme-substrate specificity of glycosidic bond cleavage by ß-glucosidase towards cellobiose (ß-linked gluco-disaccharide) and maltose (a-linked gluco-disaccharide). Structural differences between cellobiose, maltose, and…

The RRKM Theory of Unimolecular Reactions and Marcus Theory of Electron Transfer are here briefly discussed in a historical perspective. In the final section, after a general discussion on the educational usefulness of teaching chemistry in a historical framework, hints are given on how some characteristics of Marcus' work could be introduced in…

The Distributed Drug Discovery (D3) program trains students in three drug discovery disciplines (synthesis, computational analysis, and biological screening) while addressing the important challenge of discovering drug leads for neglected diseases. This article focuses on implementation of the synthesis component in the second-semester…

At present, small molecule drug design follows a retrospective path when considering what analogs are to be made around a current hit or lead molecule with the focus often on identifying a compound with higher intrinsic potency. What this approach overlooks is the simultaneous need to also improve the physicochemical (PC) and pharmacokinetic (PK)…

We address the broader conceptual and pedagogical implications of recent recommendations of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) concerning the re-definition of hydrogen bonding, drawing upon the recommended IUPAC statistical methodology of mutually correlated experimental and theoretical descriptors to operationally…

Cells are bustling factories with diverse and prolific arrays of molecular machinery. Remarkably, this machinery self-organizes to carry out the complex biochemical activities characteristic of life. When Watson and Crick published the structure of DNA, they noted that DNA base pairing creates a double-stranded form that provides a means of…

Diffraction and interference are phenomena that demonstrate the wave nature of light and of particles. Experiments relating to the diffraction/interference of light can easily be carried out in an educational lab, but it may be impossible to perform experiments involving electrons because of the lack of specialized equipment needed for such…

Rania Gikopoulou is a primary school teacher and post-doctoral researcher at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. In this article she describes how her 5th grade class (Age 11) learned about abstract phenomena through models of their microscopic structure.

Molecular model kits have been used in chemistry classrooms for decades but have seen very little recent innovation. Using 3D printing, three sets of physical models were created for a first semester, introductory chemistry course. Students manipulated these interactive models during class activities as a supplement to existing teaching tools for…

Feynman diagrams are introduced in many physics textbooks, such as those by Alonso and Finn and Serway, and their use in physics education has been discussed by various authors. They have an appealing simplicity and can give insight into events in the microworld. Yet students often do not understand their significance and often cannot combine the…

This article looks at the events that led to the discovery of isotopes in the early part of the 20th century. It is difficult to claim that the discovery was a single event. A number of famous scientists worked independently to provide the evidence, and the understanding of the need to think differently about atoms gradually emerged. Four varied…

What do basketball teams have in common with radioactive nuclei? It turns out, there is more here than first meets the eye. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball tournaments feeds fans' craving when NBA competitions are not in swing, and the college tournament time has been referred to as "March Madness" or…

The interdisciplinary nature of biochemistry courses requires students to use both chemistry and biology knowledge to understand biochemical concepts. Research that has focused on external representations in biochemistry has uncovered student difficulties in comprehending and interpreting external representations in addition to a fragmented…

A program is described and presented to readily plot the molecular orbitals from a Huckel calculation. The main features of the program and the scope of its applicability are discussed through some example organic molecules. (Contains 2 figures.)