The field of biosensors is a burgeoning area of research and employs a large number of chemistry graduates. The impact of strip tests in detecting coronavirus was palpable during the recent COVID-19 pandemic and will further drive the biosensor industry. Despite their common usage, a coherent introduction to the basics of sensing remains missing…

Curriculum-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have been shown to increase student retention in STEM fields and are starting to become more widely adopted in chemistry curricula. Here we describe a 10-week CURE that is suitable for a second-semester organic chemistry laboratory course. Students synthesize small molecules and use…

Infrared (IR) thermography renders invisible infrared radiation with intuitive coloration in images and videos taken of objects, reactions, and processes. Educators can take advantage of this technology to extend students' sensory perception of chemical reactions or processes that absorb or release heat in rich detail. In theory, IR thermography…

The ACS Guidelines for bachelor's degrees in chemistry call for the curriculum to include polymer chemistry principles and the synthesis of different classes of macromolecules. Organic chemistry can provide an important introduction to polymer chemistry principles, and photochemically induced radical polymerization is one method for generating…

For six semesters, activities have been incorporated into first year general chemistry courses in an effort to build student conceptual chemistry knowledge. The activities follow a learning cycle pedagogy (similar to Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning or POGIL activities) and consist of guiding questions involving animations, models,…

Strategies for teaching NMR spectral interpretation in the undergraduate organic chemistry curriculum are often faculty-centered and can lead to student reliance on rote memorization and "guess and check" methods rather than critical-thinking skills for structure determination. This article describes a student-focused methodology for the…

The increasing industrial and biomedical applications of nanomaterials have enhanced the need to educate a well-trained nanotechnology workforce. This need has led to efforts to introduce hands-on, nanotechnology-based, experimental modules into high school and college level courses in science and engineering. However, the majority of such efforts…

This two-period undergraduate laboratory experiment involves the synthesis of a mixture of isomeric unknowns, isolation of the mixture by means of distillation, and characterization of the two products primarily by NMR spectroscopy (1D and 2D) supported with IR spectroscopy and GC-MS techniques. Subsequent calculation and examination of the…

An organic chemistry experiment is described that is based on recent research to elucidate a novel cation-pi interaction between tetraalkammonium cations and propargyl hydrazines. This nonbonded interaction is a key component of the mechanism of ammonium-catalyzed intramolecular cycloaddition of nitrogen to the terminal carbon of a C-C triple bond…

Innovative models of teaching through research have broken the long-held paradigm that core chemistry competencies must be taught with predictable, scripted experiments. We describe here five fundamentally different, course-based undergraduate research experiences that integrate faculty research projects, accomplish ACS accreditation objectives,…

Almost all commercial quadrupole ICP-MS instruments use collision/reaction cells to either attenuate spectral interferences or shift the analyte of interest to an interference-free "m/z" (e.g., by O addition). A laboratory practical was developed to introduce the students to the basic operating principles of ICP-MS using a hands-on…

An understanding of protein folding relies on a solid foundation of a number of critical chemical concepts, such as molecular structure, intra-/intermolecular interactions, and relating structure to function. Recent reports show that students struggle on all levels to achieve these understandings and use them in meaningful ways. Further, several…

We developed a multi-week laboratory in which college-level introductory biology students investigate Mendel's stem length phenotype in peas. Students collect, analyze and interpret convergent evidence from molecular and physiological techniques. In weeks 1 and 2, students treat control and experimental plants with Gibberellic Acid (GA) to…

Fluorescent proteins are commonly used in cell biology to assess where proteins are within a cell as a function of time and provide insight into intracellular protein function. However, the usefulness of a fluorescent protein depends directly on the quantum yield. The quantum yield relates the efficiency at which a fluorescent molecule converts…

Enzyme kinetics measurements are a standard component of undergraduate biochemistry laboratories. The combination of serine hydrolases and fluorogenic enzyme substrates provides a rapid, sensitive, and general method for measuring enzyme kinetics in an undergraduate biochemistry laboratory. In this method, the kinetic activity of multiple protein…