The ability to reason with representations is pivotal for successful learning in Organic Chemistry and is closely linked to representational competence. Given the visual nature of this discipline, this comprises competency in extracting and processing relevant visual information. With regard to the resonance concept, proficiency in identifying…

Education in organic chemistry is highly reliant on molecular representations. Students abstract information from representations to make sense of submicroscopic interactions. This study investigates relationships between differing representations: bond-line structures, ball-and-stick, or electrostatic potential maps (EPMs), and predicting partial…

Approximations can help to orient the student in an organic chemistry laboratory. There the student needs to develop the solvent systems for the reaction and isolation of organic reactants and products. The adage "like dissolves like" helps in this regard, but this approach is vague and entirely qualitative. More quantitative approaches…

Organic molecules are invisible objects, but they can be visualized and manipulated by using molecular models. The object-based learning (OBL) approach, which is an educational tool developed for museums and collection items, is tailored and applied to a first-year bachelor course of organic chemistry. At the beginning of the course, each student…

In this two-session experiment for an organic chemistry lab, students prepare a macrocyclic host compound--namely, a pillar[5]arene--by means of a templated 1,4-dimethoxybenzene/formaldehyde cyclo-oligomerization (session 1), and then, they explore its molecular recognition properties toward the 1,8-diaminooctane guest with the aid of [superscript…

Appealing to students' affect in academic settings, such as demonstrating chemistry's relevance to their life, is one strategy instructors may use to support students' in learning. This study investigates the types of connections that students make to organic chemistry when responding to an open-ended writing assignment. Students enrolled in an…

High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) is an analytical technique that is typically used by mass spectrometry experts. However, with recent advancements, it is becoming more accessible to students in organic chemistry laboratories. Still, a significant knowledge gap exists between these experts and students. A straightforward laboratory…

Electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions are common in the organic chemistry laboratory. These reactions, while ubiquitous, use corrosive reagents and halogenated or hydrophobic solvents that produce expensive and hazardous waste streams. The carboxylation of phenols (Kolbe-Schmitt reaction), although aqueous, typically involves conditions…

Oxidation number (ON) is taught as an electron-counting concept for redox reactions in chemistry curriculum. The molecular formula method, the Lewis formula method, and the structural formula method have all been used to determine ON. However, the task of assigning ON still poses problems for some teachers and students. This paper explores a new…

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) can have open pore structures with high surface areas and applications in hydrogen storage, carbon dioxide capture, water harvesting from air, chemical separations, and catalysis. The chemical structure of these crystalline solids can initially appear daunting. Simplification by considering the arrangement of the…

Resonance is a fundamental chemistry concept first introduced to students in General Chemistry I, reintroduced in Organic Chemistry I, and then utilized throughout other higher-level chemistry courses. A molecule or ion can be said to exhibit resonance when it can be represented by two or more chemical structures (i.e., Lewis structures) that…

A [beta]-lactam, the core structure unit of clinically important antibiotics such as penicillin and cephalosporin, is one of the most commonly encountered four-membered heterocycles in organic chemistry and is widely used in medicine and biochemistry. The Kinugasa reaction, a copper­(I)-catalyzed cycloaddition of a terminal alkyne with a nitrone,…

Interconverting different molecular representations can be problematic for many organic chemistry students. This is certainly the case when converting Fischer projections into bond-line structures. When performing the conversion from a Fischer projection into an all-staggered bond-line structure, students are sometimes taught to draw the fully…

Students need a strong understanding of how to represent chemical compounds in order to succeed in organic chemistry. This project set out to gain a better understanding of students' difficulties with symbolic representations, by identifying the specific errors associated with drawing wedge-dash structures. The focus was on how students…

This article describes a novel method for quantifying fixation disparity and evaluates its role in visuospatial cognition during an authentic learning task, specifically, the determination of molecule chirality in organic chemistry involving mental rotation and pattern comparison. The first study examined the influence of molecular model…