Undergraduate laboratory in heterogeneous catalysis with a computational component

CHED 411

Robert A. Grimminger, grimmra2@juniata.edu and Paul D. Schettler Jr., Schettler@juniata.edu. Department of Chemistry, Juniata College, 1700 Moore Street, Box 1332, Huntingdon, PA 16652
An undergraduate laboratory for the chemistry curriculum using heterogeneous catalysts was developed. The lab incorporated a molecular modeling aspect as well. The lab is based on the conversion of methanol to hydrocarbons using an acidic zeolite catalyst, H-ZSM-5. The lab was designed to give the students experience with heterogeneous catalysis and commonly used academic molecular modeling software. Students perform the reaction, use GC-MS to characterize the product mixture, and model an intermediate or product with the Gaussian 03 software package.