No abstract

The hallmark of game-based learning is that students discover concepts through trial and error as they play. With the digital landscape in higher education shifting to mobile-first, new tools for learning chemistry are both possible and needed. Interactive games for chemistry bring intuitive content directly to students through their devices. The game Chairs! was created to teach the ring flip of cyclohexane. The development of this new mobile learning tool for organic chemistry and its implementation in classrooms are described.

It's all under control: The selection between CC and CH activation pathways in 8‐acylquinolines can be influenced by the choice of catalyst and solvent (see scheme; cod=cycloocta‐1,5‐diene). In this approach, an unstrained CC σ bond is activated and subsequent intermolecular carboacylation of an olefin results in the formation of two new CC σ bonds.

The importance of green syntheses and sustainable polymers is highlighted in a new experiment developed for incorporation into the introductory organic chemistry laboratory curriculum. δ-Decalactone, a naturally occurring cyclic ester used by the food and flavor industry for its coconut fragrance and taste, is polymerized under acidic conditions with a diol initiator. The solvent-free, room-temperature reaction conditions result in a viscous homopolymer from which the catalyst is easily removed. Subsequent chain extension of this homopolymer with the renewable monomer Llactide, followed by purification, isolation, and annealing in an aluminum pan, affords a block copolymer product as a transparent, flexible film. Well-resolved resonances in the 1 H NMR spectrum of the individual polymer repeat units facilitate quantitative analysis of polymer composition and molecular weight determination. This experiment introduces students to structures and fundamental concepts of polymer chemistry and exemplifies modern advances in sustainable materials.

Individual aerosol particles (n = 1170) collected at work stations in a nickel refinery were analyzed by wavelength-dispersive electron-probe microanalysis. By placing arbitrary restrictions on the contents of sulfur and silicon, the particles could be divided into four main groups. Scanning electron images indicated that most of the particles examined were relatively small (< or = 2 microm, equivalent projected area diameter), and that their morphology suggested formation from a melt. There was an absence of well-defined phases and simple stoichiometries, indicating that exposures to pure substances such as nickel subsulfide or specific oxides appeared not to occur. Although the elemental composition of particles varied greatly, a rough association was evident with the known elemental content of the refinery intermediates. The implications of the findings for aerosol speciation measurements, toxicological studies and interpretation of adverse health effects are explored.