Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is the tool of choice for organic chemists to determine the molecular structure of organic molecules and, as a result, is a fundamental topic in the organic chemistry curriculum. A novel laboratory module has been developed to expand the scope of NMR spectroscopy beyond structure validation at the…

NMR spectroscopy is traditionally taught to students during Organic Chemistry as a tool used for the determination of structures after synthesis. However, modern NMR spectroscopy has many important applications beyond structure elucidation, including molecular profiling of complex mixtures as biofluids and food samples. In this experiment,…

Powerful arguments have been made recently to advocate for the introduction of systems thinking in chemistry education to equip graduates to address sustainability challenges. This contribution describes systems thinking activities and an assessment tool that enables meaningful learning in first-year organic chemistry as students engage with the…

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…

This paper describes the design and implementation of a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) sequence in chemistry that links a lower-division, organic chemistry course to an upper-division, analytical chemistry course. The focus of student research is on blood preservation using trehalose derivatives in order to mimic the…

The mental models students have after engaging in an activity designed to teach infrared (IR) spectroscopy without reliance on IR absorption tables, were characterized. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews, through open coding, allowed the classification of the mental models as Molecules as Dynamic (MAD), Bonds as Dynamic (BAD),…

As part of COVID-19 preparedness, a student-developed, Android-based app was used as a pre-laboratory learning aid for a molecular modeling laboratory in a first-year general chemistry course. A worksheet activity with trigger codes and questions related to spatial features of transition metal complexes was designed. Using the Transition Metal…

Visualizing molecular conformations and complex compound structures and chemical transformations in 3D is one of the most difficult tasks for undergraduate chemistry students. Modern computational technologies have revolutionized every aspect of our lives, including education. As a result, many researchers and educators are working on enhancing…

Organosliding is a game adapted from sliding puzzles to teach structural formulas of alkanes to undergraduate students. The goal of this game is to arrange the pieces of the sliding puzzle to form a Kekulé formula of any alkane. The objective is to create as many formulas as students can from one puzzle. The effectiveness of the game was evaluated…

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has become a cornerstone tool for studying a variety of molecular features in advanced chemistry laboratories. In this experiment, students prepare a pyrrole-[beta]-amide via a one-pot, three-step synthesis and use NMR spectroscopy to confirm its molecular structure. In addition, variable temperature…

The concept of delocalization (i.e., resonance) is fundamental concept in organic chemistry but essential learning outcomes (LOs) have not previously been proposed nor has there been an analysis of how resonance is taught, despite indications in the literature that students have many non-canonical ideas about the concepts. To address this deficit,…

One of the more difficult concepts introduced in the first-year undergraduate course, general chemistry, is that of chirality. Typically, left and right hands are the common, macroscopic objects of reference used to demonstrate the quality of being nonsuperimposable, followed by the use of a mirror and molecular models, to illustrate molecular…

When organic students are asked to design a total synthesis of a molecule, they are often overwhelmed by the multitude of possible transformations. A decision tree is a useful tool to break complex problems up into simpler steps and scaffold the thinking process that many seasoned chemists take for granted. While many comprehensive resources…

This report describes an activity that helps organic chemistry students to better understand organic molecules as 3-dimensional objects. To accomplish this goal, the activity employs a unique three-way combination of analyzing computer-generated 3-dimensional renditions of open access X-ray crystallography data, building physical 3-dimensional…

Industrial drug discovery teams encompass scientists from multiple specialties and require participants to communicate effectively across disciplinary boundaries. In this paper, we present an undergraduate or graduate classroom simulation of this environment. Over a series of five workshops, student teams of mixed scientific backgrounds perform…