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CREATE Honors Research at ACC

The Honors Program at Austin Community College is proud to offer Organic Chemistry II Lab (CHEM 2125-700) as one of their many courses. This course module was co-developed by Dr. Shawn Amorde (ACC) and Dr. Sean Roberts (UT Austin). Throughout CHEM 2125, students are introduced to chemical research via the design, synthesis, and characterization of a library of organic dyes and pigments which may have the potential utility for energy applications. This course is co-taught by faculty from ACC and UT Austin.

For more information including program eligibility and how to apply please visit the Honors Program page at ACC here.

Honors Coursework has been published!

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Research-Focused Approach for Introducing Undergraduate Students to Aromatic Organic Synthesis at a Community College
Jessica T. Boette, Kira M. Daniel, Josephine W. Lietzke, Shawn M. Amorde*, Sean T. Roberts*

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ABSTRACT:

The addition of research-focused experiences to undergraduate chemistry laboratory courses has been shown to bolster student learning, enhance student retention in STEM, and improve student self-identity as scientists. In the area of synthetic organic chemistry, the preparation of libraries of compounds with novel optical and electronic properties can provide a natural motivational goal for research-focused exercises that can be undertaken by individual students or collectively as a class. However, integrating such experiences into a community college teaching laboratory setting can face challenges imposed by the cost of supplies, limited laboratory space, and access to characterization facilities. To address these challenges, we have devised a sequence of inquiry-driven, research-focused laboratory exercises that can be readily integrated into an organic chemistry laboratory course with minimal cost. This sequence consists of a multistep synthesis of perylenediimide dyes that introduces students to advanced synthetic techniques, such as organometallic coupling reactions, column purification, and reactions performed under inert atmosphere. This high-yield, three-part synthesis can be easily varied by individual students or small groups within a class to form a broad library of compounds with potential utility for applications in light harvesting, molecular electronics, catalysis, and medicine. We describe the design of low-cost workstations for chemical synthesis under inert atmosphere and provide auxiliary lesson plans that can be used to expand the scope of a laboratory course beyond synthetic organic chemistry by introducing students to concepts in molecular spectroscopy.

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00662

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