Providing Unique Learning Experiences
The February 2016 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education is now available online to subscribers. Topics featured in this issue include: metal–organic cage & host–guest interactions; safety; innovative teaching approaches; understanding kinetics; computer-based instruction; activities combining ethics and analysis; “play with your food” laboratories; synthesis and analysis in the laboratory; fluorescence-based experiments; chemical education research; mining the archives: copper.
Cover: Metal–Organic Cage & Host–Guest Interactions
Four commercial reagents, mixed in D2O at room temperature, spontaneously form a tetrahedral cage for direct NMR analysis without workup or purification. This self-assembled structure encapsulates small, nonpolar molecules and is held together by dynamic C=N and N→Fe bonds. In Self-Assembly, Guest Capture, and NMR Spectroscopy of a Metal–Organic Cage in Water, Eun Bin Go, Veerasak Srisuknimit, Stephanie L. Cheng, and David A. Vosburg describe an advanced laboratory experiment for undergraduates to create the cage and explore its host–guest chemistry by 1H and DOSY NMR. After this laboratory experience, students effectively related organic chemistry with molecular self-assembly, supramolecular chemistry, and host–guest interactions. Additional labs in the issue about host–guest interactions are:
Synthesis and Characterization of Calixarene Tetraethers: An Exercise in Supramolecular Chemistry for the Undergraduate Organic Laboratory ~ Stefan L. Debbert, Bradley D. Hoh, and David J. Dulak
Molecular Recognition: Detection of Colorless Compounds Based On Color Change ~ Lida Khalafi, Samira Kashani, and Javad Karimi
Safety
Safety is always a concern in the chemistry classroom and lab. In their commentary, Ira O. Staehle, Tim S. Chung, Antoine Stopin, Geeta S. Vadehra, Scott I. Hsieh, James H. Gibson, and Miguel A. Garcia-Garibay discuss An Approach To Enhance the Safety Culture of an Academic Chemistry Research Laboratory by Addressing Behavioral Factors. Some additional JCE safety resources in past issues include:
Funding Safety Activities in Secondary Schools ~ William C. Penker and Harry J. Elston
Safety Teams: An Approach To Engage Students in Laboratory Safety ~ Peter J. Alaimo, Joseph M. Langenhan, Martha J. Tanner, and Scott M. Ferrenberg
Innovative Teaching Approaches
A First-Year Chemistry Undergraduate “Course Community” at a Large, Research-Intensive University ~ Brian J. De La Franier, Jenny Diep, Perry J. C. Menzies, Barbora Morra, Katherine J. Koroluk, and Andrew P. Dicks
Enhancing the Skill-Building Phase of Introductory Organic Chemistry Lab through a Reflective Peer Review Structure ~ Jason K. Pontrello
Teaching with the Case Study Method To Promote Active Learning in a Small Molecule Crystallography Course for Chemistry Students ~ Michael G. Campbell, Tamara M. Powers, and Shao-Liang Zheng
Understanding Kinetics
Visualization of Kinetics: Stimulating Higher-Order Thinking via Visualization ~ Julie B. Ealy
Deducing Reaction Mechanism: A Guide for Students, Researchers, and Instructors ~ Simon J. Meek, Catherine L. Pitman, and Alexander J. M. Miller
Computer-Based Instruction
Pensaqui: A Learning Object about Chemical Transformations ~ Daniela R. Silva, Patrícia N. Hübler, Gabriela Perry, Marlise Bock Santos, Mara Lúcia Fernandes Carneiro, andJ. C. Del Pino
Heteronuclear Multidimensional Protein NMR in a Teaching Laboratory ~ Nathan T. Wright
Teaching Inorganic Photophysics and Photochemistry with Three Ruthenium(II) Polypyridyl Complexes: A Computer-Based Exercise ~ Claudio Garino, Alessio Terenzi, Giampaolo Barone, and Luca Salassa
Using Mathematical Software To Introduce Fourier Transforms in Physical Chemistry To Develop Improved Understanding of Their Applications in Analytical Chemistry ~ Tierney C. Miller, John N. Richardson, and Jeb S. Kegerreis
Isothermal Titration Calorimetry Can Provide Critical Thinking Opportunities ~ Dale E. Moore, David R. Goode, Caryn S. Seney, and Jennifer M. Boatwright
Using Interactive Psychrometric Charts to Visualize and Explore Psychrometric Processes ~ Péter Erdélyi and Róbert Rajkó
Activities Combining Ethics and Analysis
Nature or Naughty: Bringing “Deflategate” to the High School Chemistry Classroom ~ Elizabeth J. Megonigal
Misconduct at the Lab? A Performance Task Case Study for Teaching Data Analysis and Critical Thinking ~ Stephen M. Contakes
“Play with Your Food” Laboratories
Quantifying Gold Nanoparticle Concentration in a Dietary Supplement Using Smartphone Colorimetry and Google Applications ~ Antonio R. Campos, Cassandra M. Knutson, Theodore R. Knutson, Abbie R. Mozzetti, Christy L. Haynes, and R. Lee Penn
Obtaining the Iodine Value of Various Oils via Bromination with Pyridinium Tribromide ~ Michael Simurdiak, Olushola Olukoga, and Kirk Hedberg
Using a Sequence of Experiments with Turmeric Pigments from Food To Teach Extraction, Distillation, and Thin-Layer Chromatography to Introductory Organic Chemistry Students ~ Thayssa da S. F. Fagundes, Karen Danielle B. Dutra, Carlos Magno R. Ribeiro, Rosângela de A. Epifanio, andAlessandra L. Valverde
Introducing Students to Protein Analysis Techniques: Separation and Comparative Analysis of Gluten Proteins in Various Wheat Strains ~ Alyssa L. Pirinelli, Jonathan C. Trinidad, and Nicola L. B. Pohl
Citrus Quality Control: An NMR/MRI Problem-Based Experiment ~ Sarah E. Erhart, Robert M. McCarrick, Gary A. Lorigan, and Ellen J. Yezierski
Liquid CO2 Extraction and NMR Characterization of Anethole from Fennel Seed: A General Chemistry Laboratory ~ Brett R. Bodsgard, Nathan R. Lien, and Quinlyn T. Waulters
Synthesis and Analysis in the Laboratory
Chemical Synthesis Accelerated by Paper Spray: The Haloform Reaction ~ Ryan M. Bain, Christopher J. Pulliam, Shannon A. Raab, and R. Graham Cooks
Synthesis and Characterization of Metal Complexes with Schiff Base Ligands ~ Shane M. Wilkinson, Timothy M. Sheedy, and Elizabeth J. New
Complexation Key to a pH Locked Redox Reaction ~ Masood Ahmad Rizvi, Yuvraj Dangat, Tahir Shams, and Khaliquz Zaman Khan
Fluorescence-Based Experiments
Fluorescence Aggregation-Caused Quenching versus Aggregation-Induced Emission: A Visual Teaching Technology for Undergraduate Chemistry Students ~ Xiaofeng Ma, Rui Sun, Jinghui Cheng, Jiaoyan Liu, Fei Gou, Haifeng Xiang, and Xiangge Zhou
Measuring Norfloxacin Binding to Trypsin Using a Fluorescence Quenching Assay in an Upper-Division, Integrated Laboratory Course ~ Katherine A. Hicks
Evaluating the Relationship between FRET Changes and Distance Changes Using DNA Length and Restriction Enzyme Specificity ~ Yogitha Pazhani, Abigail E. Horn, Lizbeth Grado, and Jennifer F. Kugel
Chemical Education Research
Investigating Affective Experiences in the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory: Students’ Perceptions of Control and Responsibility ~ Kelli R. Galloway, Zoebedeh Malakpa, and Stacey Lowery Bretz
Test–Retest Reliability of the Adaptive Chemistry Assessment Survey for Teachers: Measurement Error and Alternatives to Correlation ~ Jordan Harshman and Ellen Yezierski
Using Cooperative Learning To Teach Chemistry: A Meta-analytic Review ~ Abdi-Rizak M. Warfa
Mining the Archives: Copper
In their laboratory experiment, Iain A. Smellie, Ross S. Forgan, Claire Brodie, Jack S. Gavine, Leanne Harris, Daniel Houston, Andrew D. Hoyland, Rory P. McCaughan, Andrew J. Miller, Liam Wilson, and Fiona M. Woodhall describe Solvent Extraction of Copper: An Extractive Metallurgy Exercise for Undergraduate Teaching Laboratories. Copper has been featured in many articles in the Journal, including this collection of demonstrations and activities from past issues:
Copper Metal from Malachite circa 4000 B.C.E. ~ Cris E. Johnson, Gordon T. Yee, and Jeannine E. Eddleton
Chemistry and Art in a Bag: An Easy-To-Implement Outreach Activity Making and Painting with a Copper-Based Pigment ~ Anne C. Gaquere-Parker, N. Allie Doles, and Cass D. Parker
Synthesis of Copper Pigments, Malachite and Verdigris: Making Tempera Paint ~ Sally D. Solomon, Susan A. Rutkowsky, Megan L. Mahon, and Erica M. Halpern
Metals in Metal Salts: A Copper Mirror Demonstration ~ Robert D. Pike
An Improved Copper Mirror Demonstration ~ Maja Nikoloska and Vladimir M. Petruševski
The Household Chemistry of Cleaning Pennies ~ Laurence D. Rosenhein
A Simple Penny Analysis ~ Nicholas C. Thomas and Stephen Faulk
Visual Observation of Dissolution of Copper Ions from a Copper Electrode ~ Isao Ikemoto and Kouichi Saitou
Celebrating the International Year of Crystallography with a Wisconsin High School Crystal Growing Competition ~ Ilia A. Guzei
Journal of Chemical Education Bends Time and Space
With 93 volumes of the Journal of Chemical Education to explore, you will always find something mind-blowing—including the articles mentioned above, and many more, in the Journal of Chemical Education. Articles that are edited and published online ahead of print (ASAP—As Soon As Publishable) are also available.
If you are considering writing an article for JCE, there are numerous author resources available on JCE’s ACS Web site, including recently updated Author Guidelines, Document Templates, and Reference Guidelines.