Revision of an undergraduate curriculum: Chiral technology in advanced labs

CHED 1521

James W. Canary, james.canary@nyu.edu1, Paramjit S. Arora, arora@nyu.edu1, and Donald J. Wink, dwink@uic.edu2. (1) Department of Chemistry, New York University, 100 Washington Square East, New York, NY 10003, (2) Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607
We undertook a revision of undergraduate laboratory courses including a sophomore-level organic chemistry laboratory, a junior level advanced organic/inorganic laboratory, and a senior-level physical chemistry laboratory course. The revisions sought to connect students with topics related to contemporary research, provide training on research-level instrumentation, and develop themes across the three courses. Among the themes that were developed included aspects of stereochemistry and chirality. Students were exposed to kinetic resolution, chiral chromatography, inorganic chiral coordination complexes, and chiroptical spectroscopy. Students responded positively to participation in experimental design and problems solving, and were enthusiastic about “real life” experiences. Focus group data pointed to increased interest in research careers.
 

Teaching Stereochemistry in the Undergraduate Curriculum
8:30 AM-11:05 AM, Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Hilton New Orleans Riverside -- HEC C, Oral

Division of Chemical Education

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008