Describes an experiment designed to acquaint the chemistry student with polymerization reactions, vacuum techniques, liquid scintillation counting, gas-liquid chromatography, and the handling of radioactive materials. (MLH)

Suggests replacing traditional organic chemistry laboratory exercises with experiments involving an elementary research approach. The student is provided with short laboratory projects, normally involving simple reactants and products; it is an important criterion that the reactions chosen are not normally featured in student textbooks. (MLH)

Explains a series of experiments that increased students' awareness and understanding of activation energy, reaction transition states, rates of reaction, provided a neat example of the diagnostic utility of infrared spectroscopy and furnished insight into the accidental research situation. (Author/GS)

Describes a laboratory experiment, suitable for senior undergraduates, that illustrates energy transfer processes in photochemical reactions. (MLH)

Describes some undergraduate laboratory experiments on thermoanalytical techniques which deal with both organic and inorganic compounds. (GA)

Describes a synthesis of chrysanthemic acid which has been used successfully in a laboratory course. (Author/CP)

Describes the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to study a three-component system and the technique by which to define a ternary phase diagram. (CP)

Describes experiments involving the synthesis of compounds which exhibit pronounced color changes with changes of solvent polarity. (SL)

Smaller amounts of materials are used in organic chemistry experiments as a means of improving air quality in the laboratory. Outlines benefits from this approach and describes two representative experiments in detail. These experiments are the Cannizzaro reaction and preparation of an aromatic nitrile. (JN)

Peroxides are unstable, shock-, thermal-, and friction-sensitive compounds whose sensitivity increases with concentration. In addition, peroxides can form in aging organic solvents and stored alkali metals. Cautions related to storage, use, and disposal of peroxides in the secondary school chemistry laboratory are discussed. (JN)

Describes an undergraduate experiment in which the structure of bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (I) is analyzed and interpreted using Carbon-13 magnetic resonance. (MLH)