GCTLC Library

An organic chemistry laboratory experiment illustrating the oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols to their corresponding aldehyde or ketones, respectively, is described. The procedure uses 30% aqueous hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a tungsten catalyst (sodium tungstate) using phase transfer catalysis. The described experiments illustrate basic organic reaction chemistry and techniques ...

In this experiment, students perform a Grignard reaction under air-free conditions to synthesize and isolate organometallic Ni(II) phosphine complex(es) that are used as pre-catalysts for a Suzuki-Miyaura Coupling reaction in tert-amyl alcohol.

One of the main advantages of doing green chemistry is that it can often be done on the benchtop without the need for a fume-hood. In this experiment water and ethanol are the only solvents used for both the reaction and purification steps and oxone is a safe oxidant whose only by-product is potassium sulfate.

The oxidation of aromatic aldehydes using oxone allows instructors to discuss green ...

A new green oxidation procedure was developed for the undergraduate organic teaching laboratories using Oxone and a catalytic quantity of sodium chloride for the conversion of borneol to camphor. This simple 1 h, room temperature reaction afforded high quality and yield of product, was environmentally friendly, and produced negligible quantities of hazardous waste. The experiment was performed ...

Applications of organic chemistry to modify the structure and surface properties of materials are becoming increasingly important and interdisciplinary as the dimensions of modern materials decrease. This laboratory exercise illustrates how macroscopic material properties can be modified with self-assembled monolayers and organic thin-film patterning. Using an inexpensive gold on vinyl substrate ...

During Calendar Year 1999, the Illinois Waste Management and Research Center (WMRC), a state agency, and Argonne National Laboratory-East (Argonne), a federal research facility, jointly conducted a pilot project entitled "Chemical Waste Minimization in the Educational Laboratory." Four Chicago area secondary schools voluntarily participated in this Pilot Project. The purpose of the Pilot Project ...

This self-paced E-learning course aims to show the potentials for sustainable chemistry in the construction sector and to answer the following questions:

> How can plastics be used in a sustainable way in buildings?

> What obstacles are there and how can they be overcome?

> Which steps need to be followed, under consideration of regional differences?

> What are recommendations for ...

*This is lesson 1 of a 4-lesson unit. Green Chemistry technologies are serving as tools to capture the imagination of the next generation of problem solvers. This is a unit investigating biodiversity, food as science, and chemistry as a tool for solving sustainability challenges. The Plate to Planet Unit teaches students in grades 3-5 how food production and food decisions impact our environment ...

*This is lesson 2 of a 4-lesson unit. Green Chemistry technologies are serving as tools to capture the imagination of the next generation of problem solvers. This is a unit investigating biodiversity, food as science, and chemistry as a tool for solving sustainability challenges. The Plate to Planet Unit teaches students in grades 3-5 how food production and food decisions impact our environment ...

*This is lesson 3 of a 4-lesson unit. Green Chemistry technologies are serving as tools to capture the imagination of the next generation of problem solvers. This is a unit investigating biodiversity, food as science, and chemistry as a tool for solving sustainability challenges. The Plate to Planet Unit teaches students in grades 3-5 how food production and food decisions impact our environment ...

*This is lesson 4 of a 4-lesson unit. Green Chemistry technologies are serving as tools to capture the imagination of the next generation of problem solvers. This is a unit investigating biodiversity, food as science, and chemistry as a tool for solving sustainability challenges. The Plate to Planet Unit teaches students in grades 3-5 how food production and food decisions impact our environment ...

* This is an extension activity to the Plate to Planet Unit. This is an experiment/demonstration that is great for teaching about catalysts. The demonstration will show a chemical reaction in which a catalyst (yeast) is added to hydrogen peroxide to create a foam that looks like a giant squirt of toothpaste that could be used on an elephant!

*This is an extension activity to the Plate to Planet Unit. In this activity, the children will be extracting Deoxyribonucleic Acid, DNA, from strawberries. Cells are the basic unit of life and make up all living things. DNA is the molecule that controls everything in the cell. DNA contains the instructions that direct all the cell’s activities. This lesson will show how DNA can be isolated from ...

This is a political engagement activity designed for a 2nd year organic chemistry II lecture course. The activity engages the students in the review and summary of pending state legislation. After a class discussion about the content and goals of the bill, the class generates a list of questions they have about the bill. The students are then assigned/select questions to research and collect ...

This feature article, available through the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), gives an overview of indoor air pollutants and how chemists and scientists monitor and track them. The article highlights a massive study in June of 2018 that took place in the United States and provides a series of different activities for high school-level students to understand mass spectrometry. It also includes ...

This module is part of a collection of nine green chemistry teaching modules developed in the early 2000s by a team of faculty (Donna Narsavage-Heald, Trudy Dickneider, David Marx, Timothy Foley, Joan Wasilewski) led by Michael Cann at the University of Scranton and has been migrated to the GCTLC. The subjects of the modules are based on winners of the Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. The modules ...

The purpose of this lab is to introduce students to some basics of the chemistry of polymers. Polymer chemistry is often an afterthought in the General Chemistry curriculum, but polymers are very much present in students’ lives. The lab introduces the relationship between molecular structure (e.g., branched vs. linear, bulky vs small side groups) and bulk properties (e.g., flexibility). This lab ...

The purpose of this lab is to give students experience in the practical preparation of buffers and exploring buffer properties. Students will prepare aqueous solutions with specific concentrations of acids and bases, and use pH meters to examine the pH of these buffers. The buffer capacity of the prepared buffers will also be measured.

Featuring contributions from Tamara Fitzjarrald.

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

This experiment looks at two types of chemical reactions that produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide gases. It explores both qualitative observations (no measurements or numbers involved) about the reactions, as well as quantitative measurements of the volume of gas produced to explore concepts of stoichiometry and the ideal gas law. These concepts will be used to relate the stoichiometry of gas ...

This article uses Green Chemistry principles to recast traditional Organic chemistry experiments into more guided inquiry-based experiments. It provides an overview of how traditional labs have been revamped to allow Green Chemistry principles to be taught through the labs. Lee, D. B. (2019). Recasting traditional organic experiments into green guided inquiry-based experiments: student perceptions ...

This lab discusses types of reactions and replaces traditional reaction experiments involving chemicals such as lead (II) nitrate, barium chloride, and silver nitrate. This lab challenges students to identify types of chemical reactions and distinguish between reactions that use safer, less hazardous chemicals from the more hazardous. Students will participate in the decision making by choosing ...

The article discusses steps in recycling plastic bottles, focusing on polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The steps required to separate the PET bottles from other types of plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) using optical methods and density are described. The article further describes the chemical methods used to remove other contaminants including food residues and depolymerize the ...

We have an ongoing plastic problem. This is not news, but also not the end of the story.

Half of the plastics being produced are single-use plastics, meaning they are only intended to be used once. Compared to how long plastics take to break down, or degrade, there is a large time difference between the time the product is in use versus the time the product degrades.

Plastics are made up of ...

There are many tools that a synthetic organic chemist can use to synthesize amines; one of which is reductive amination. This common method of introducing the amine functionality is especially crucial for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and biomolecules.

A typical reductive amination is a one-pot reaction involving a solvent, an aldehyde or ketone, an amine, and a weakened reducing agent. This ...

This review article provides an overview of dipolar aprotic and ethereal solvents and their use in synthetic organic chemistry, as well as recent legislative changes being imposed on their usage, and alternative, safer and more sustainable alternatives to consider as well as case study examples of where less desirable solvents have been successfully replaced with greener options.

Systems thinking is currently envisaged as a useful educational approach to teaching about sustainability (including green chemistry education) because of the high number of interrelated factors involved and the need of learners to acquire the ability to identify all of the factors and their relationships. After recalling the way in which key concepts are understood and utilized in this work, the ...

The experiment "Separating Salts from Seawater" demonstrates the process of separating various salts from seawater. Students heat seawater to evaporate the water and precipitate solids. The procedure involves boiling seawater, allowing solids to settle, and using filtration and further evaporation to isolate different salts, primarily calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, and sodium chloride. This ...

This ACS resource is an accessible and safe organic chemistry lab experiment that teaches liquid-liquid and acid-base extraction. The experiment can be completed entirely at home. Students are tasked with separating an unknown mixture of food colorings. The separation can be accomplished using only water, vegetable oil, white vinegar, and baking soda.

Separation of Food Colorings via Liquid ...

This resource provides ideas and tips for teaching students about sustainable energy sources which connects to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 7. The activities presented in this resource also connect the ideas of scientific discovery using energy production as a context to promote students' interests in sustainable energy.

This is a webinar from the Beyond Benign webinar archive about teaching green chemistry in higher education.

Andy Dicks, David Laviska & Nick Kingsley share tips & tricks for bringing Green Chemistry to their departments and beyond. This discussion covers approaches to transforming chemistry education as well as developing, expanding, and strengthening Green Chemistry connections within the ...

This is a free-to-read article published in the Journal of Chemical Education that provides an overview of how green chemistry curricular resources can help faculty discuss social, health, and environmental justice in their classrooms. Emphasis is placed on providing relevancy to students looking to learn how their chemistry knowledge can help them solve and/or prevent global justice crises.

Chalcones represent a group of compounds with interesting biological activities that are formed from an aldol condensation between a benzaldehyde and an acetophenone in the presence of NaOH as a catalyst. Although typically synthesized using organic solvents, in this exercise students prepare 20 different chalcones using a solventless procedure. The scale of these reactions can be easily modified ...

Carbon-carbon bond formation is arguably one of the most crucial transformations in organic chemistry. In this experiment, students will simultaneously transform carbonyl groups into olefins via the Wittig Reaction while learning principles of green chemistry. While the Wittig is not normally known for its "greenness" (due to its poor atom economy), this lab seeks to bolster the reaction's green ...

This series of exercises enforces green chemistry concepts while also introducing students to the balancing of equations and stoichiometry. The concept of conservation will likely already be familiar to most students, but these drills give students a chance to analyze different synthetic pathways and decide which path is the most green. The three target compounds given in this article are aluminum ...

This lesson introduces the concept of green chemistry by replacing a conventional aluminum to alum stoichiometry lab with a more sustainable precipitation reaction using sodium carbonate and calcium chloride. Green chemistry is an approach that aims to design chemical processes and products that minimize the use and generation of hazardous substances, while also reducing waste and improving ...

Students use stoichiometry to deduce the appropriate equation for the reaction between solid metallic iron and a solution of copper(II) sulfate. This reaction produces solid metallic copper, which is precipitated as a finely divided red powder in a single displacement reaction. During the reaction, atoms from a solid metal exchange with different metal ions in a salt solution. The iron produced ...