Organic Chemistry

A guided group inquiry lesson on coordination compounds and complex ions

Michael Morgan | Tue, 11/24/2020 - 12:02

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Michael Morgan shares a lesson that he has used for many years that not only requires students to explain a topic that they have not been directly taught but also to develop explanations based on previous knowledge. He has used this lesson as a multiday “in-class” assignment and also as an “at-home” independent study. It works well in both scenarios with only minor revision. The lesson is based on Alfred Werner’s work on deducing the structures of coordination compounds.

Using Desmos to Create an Organic Nomenclature Card Sorting Activity

Ben Meacham | Tue, 06/02/2020 - 10:20

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Desmos offers an activity building feature that allows teachers to create and customize activities. The resource is applicable to a variety of science and chemistry topics and useful in whatever learning environment teachers find themselves in next school year.

Metabolic Marvels of Bear Hibernation- Part 3

Scott Donnelly | Thu, 01/23/2020 - 10:50

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"A bear is wiser than a man because a man does not know how to live all winter without eating anything." Abenaki (People of the Dawn) saying. This is the third post describing the metabolic and nutritional chemistry of bear hibernation.

The Metabolic Marvel of Hibernating Bears

Scott Donnelly | Thu, 11/14/2019 - 19:00

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Millions of years of evolution has endowed brown (Ursus arctos) and black (Ursus americanus) bears with the enviable metabolic capacity to starve themselves for a long period of time and still survive. Truly, bears are chemist extraordinaires and their hibernation chemistry overall is arguably without equal in the mammalian world. Let's take an introductory look at what's going on.

First Day Chemistry Engineering Activity

Melissa Hemling | Sat, 09/07/2019 - 22:26

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It is difficult to find a lab to do on the first or second day of school. This engineering lab fits the bill!

An Activity for Introducing Organic Functional Groups

Kristen Drury | Tue, 07/02/2019 - 10:38

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Organic Chemistry is overlooked as a first year chemistry topic in most areas, but it can be a very valuable and fun experience for students. This is an activity that can be used to introduce students to functional groups.

Especially JCE: April 2019

Erica Jacobsen | Mon, 04/15/2019 - 17:50

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Erica Jacobsen shares highlights from the April 2019 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education.

Immobilization of Lactase Enzyme on Alginate Beads - A Quick Test

Andrea Amato | Mon, 01/07/2019 - 18:18

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I came across an interesting Journal of Chemical Education article that explains how it is possible to crosslink sodium alginate, leading to the formation of calcium alginate beads. Calcium alginate beads are hydrogels and one of their uses is to immobilize enzymes in their structure. I thought it would be cool to immobilize some lactase enzyme onto calcium alginate beads and investigate its ability to hydrolyze lactose.

How Chemistry Helped Batman: Kevlar - A short review

Andrea Amato | Wed, 09/19/2018 - 15:49

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I’ve always been fascinated by advanced polymeric materials; it’s amazing how materials that are generally considered “plastics” have such stunning properties. I recently watched a couple of movies about Batman and it came out that some of his devices and protections are made of advanced polymers. In particular, the suit is almost entirely made of Kevlar.

ChemTube3D iPad App for organic mechanisms (and so much more!)

Lowell Thomson | Fri, 10/20/2017 - 21:17

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The recently published iPad app ChemTube3D (and related website for classrooms without iPads) will be discussed. It has a great deal of functionality - including a large selection of organic mechanism animations and models of structure and bonding.