The COVID-19 pandemic of Spring 2020 saw chemistry instructors across the globe working to deliver traditional hands-on laboratory learning within a remote learning environment. This study focused on the student perspective on remote laboratory delivery models across 13 Fall 2020 chemistry courses with students from all four years of undergraduate…

The present work describes a simple hands-on experiment kit for colorimetric quantification of ferric (III) ion (Fe[superscript 3+]) in an aqueous medium using anthocyanin extracted from "Ruellia tuberosa" L. as a green indicator. The extraction of a high amount of anthocyanin was easily accomplished by using only hot water instead of an…

Computational chemistry techniques are used along with spectroscopy to characterize acetaminophen synthesized in an undergraduate chemistry laboratory experiment. The inclusion of electronic structure calculations to provide infrared and Raman spectra in the synthesis and characterization of acetaminophen connects over-the-counter medications with…

Electrochemistry represents a powerful sustainable method for chemical synthesis; however, its widespread application is limited due to the lack of exposure and appropriate basic training of synthetic chemists and engineers in electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering. The introduction of diverse laboratory practices to the current…

Students determine the iron mass in dietary supplements using four colorimetric assays. These colorimetric assays were selective for Fe[superscript 3+]. It was complexed by thiocyanide, salicylate, gallic acid, and Fe(CN)[subscript 6][superscript 4-], forming blood-red, red, violet, and blue complexes, respectively. The [lambda][subscript max] of…

Applying the idea of green chemistry, we extended an esterification teaching experiment with isoamyl alcohol and acetic acid and reused isoamyl acetate in the transesterification reaction with KOH as the catalyst. As a result, isoamyl alcohol was produced and could be reused for the teaching experiment. The simplified experimental method achieved…

Benzoin, an [alpha]-hydroxy ketone, is stereoselectively reduced by sodium borohydride to yield hydrobenzoin, the stereochemistry of which is determined by acetalization and analysis of the derivative by NMR spectroscopy. This classical experiment has been enhanced by modern spectroscopic and computational analysis to enable students to…

Electron configuration provides insight into the chemical behaviors of elements and is an important concept for students to master in introductory chemistry. To better strengthen undergraduate students' mastery of electron configurations of atoms and ions, we designed a novel, interactive chemistry game called ChemisTree that uses active-learning…

The "maker" movement is gaining widespread attention, especially in the field of laboratory education. Here we have built a low-cost, "do-it-yourself", open-source thermal conductivity cell detector (TCD) for chemical laboratory analysis, which is assembled from thermal conductivity gas sensor elements and 3D-printed flow cell…

The general assembly meeting of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2015 adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at achieving a better and more sustainable world by 2030. Incorporating sustainable values through a series of pedagogical strategies into university curricula to help…

Take-home examinations were utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic for upper-level analytical chemistry lecture courses. The questions were often scenarios which required the students to determine the best type of instrument to use and how to go about the experiment. Answers submitted were well thought out and detailed, showing that the students…

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…

The development of equitable grading systems that provide students with effective feedback and provide instructors with an efficient means of assessment are of deep interest to chemical educators. A recent trend in chemical education, and STEM education more broadly, has been the use of specifications, or specs, grading that emphasizes mastery of…

Here we showcase an undergraduate teaching laboratory in which students synthesize and characterize colloidal nanoparticles of organic semiconductors and assess their suitability for applications in printed electronics such as solar cells and bioelectronics. Scanning electron microscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy…

It is generally accepted that if a course or curricular transformation is to be implemented with fidelity, the users must understand how and why the transformation is different from their current practices and which aspects of the transformation are essential to achieving comparable student learning outcomes. In this article, we provide a detailed…