This report describes a laboratory experiment for an undergraduate-level inorganic chemistry or biochemistry course involving the study of the kinetics of the catecholase activity of a synthetic nickel­(II)-oximate complex. A model substrate, 3,5-di-tert-butylcatechol(DBC), undergoes aerobic oxidation to 3,5-di-tert-butylbenzoquinone (DBQ) in the…

Millions of people do not have access to clean drinking water; thus, cost-efficient water treatment systems are vital. Chemists, environmentalists, technicians, and engineers will be the professionals making breakthroughs in this industry. This laboratory experiment aims to introduce undergraduate students to the removal of pollutants from water…

Chemical reactions that mimic the function of ATP hydrolysis in biochemistry are of current interest in nonequilibrium systems chemistry. The formation of transient bonds from these reactions can drive molecular machines or generate materials with time-dependent properties. While the behavior of these systems can be complicated, the underlying…

Supersonic free-fall jumps are excellent examples of kinematics in the context of drag. They have attracted a lot of media, public, and scientific interest. In 2012, Felix Baumgartner jumped from a height of approximately 38.969 km. During his flight he reached a top speed of 373 m/s, becoming the first human to travel faster than the speed of…

Enzyme kinetics is an essential topic in undergraduate Biochemistry courses. A laboratory work that covers the principal basic concepts of enzyme kinetics in steady state is presented. The alkaline phosphatase catalyzed reaction of phenyl-phosphate hydrolysis was studied as a model. The laboratory experience was designed to reinforce the concepts…

Scientific laboratories are among the most challenging course components to integrate into online instruction. Available technology restricts the design and nature of experiments, and it can be hard to replicate the collaborative lab environment where frequent and immediate instructor feedback is the norm. Here we report on technological and…

In order to introduce students to the fascinating field of femtochemistry, we propose here a practical laboratory training course conceived for second-year master's students in chemistry. We describe the use of a broadband femtosecond transient absorption (pump-probe) experiment for monitoring a fast light-triggered chemical reaction in solution.…

We have developed a laboratory project in which students prepare liposomes, expose them to hyperosmotic and hypoosmotic solutions, and follow the resulting shrinking and swelling (respectively) with laser light scattering. Each light intensity transient can be fit to an exponential decline or rise, with the decay constant (k) and the amplitude…

A novel method of measuring the coefficients of kinetic and rolling friction is proposed. The method is simple to implement and reliable. Samples of measurements and calculations are presented.

A Unit Operations Laboratory (UOL) is fundamental to undergraduate chemical engineering education. This article discusses a new course structure for the University of Kansas UOL and details for three new experiments covering the fundamentals of vapor-liquid equilibrium, fluid mechanics, and kinetics. Students apply knowledge from these courses as…

A laboratory class was developed and evaluated to illustrate the synthesis of metal nanoclusters (NCs) and to explain their photoluminescence properties for the case of silver. The described experiment employs a synthetic protocol that consists of two sequential phases in a single reaction pot: the reduction of silver ions into plasmonic silver…

Adsorption of methylene blue and malachite green was carried out using "Luffa cylindrica" sponges as adsorbing material. We provide a very illustrative exercise about the use of common natural materials requiring little preparation to solve environmental tasks in a routine laboratory situation such as using dyes. In addition, the…

Here we present a new undergraduate laboratory that will introduce the concepts of time-resolved spectroscopy and provide insight into the natural time scales on which chemical dynamics occur through direct measurement. A quantitative treatment of the acquired data will provide a deeper understanding of the role of quantum mechanics and various…

In 1972 Christian B. Anfinsen received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "…his work on ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and the biologically active conformation." The understanding of this principle is crucial for physical biochemistry students, since protein folding studies, bio-computing…

A laboratory experiment that exposes students to fundamental concepts in kinetics and statistical thermodynamics to study systems of great current interest in nanotechnology by employing a foundational technique in physical chemistry is described. A modified commercial flash photolysis spectrometer was used to study photoinduced isomerization…