Over the past year, several members of our research group have focused on curricular development in support of a new Green Chemistry Initiative. Specifically, we have worked on piloting and/or modifying green(er) experimental protocols taken from the literature for implementation in our organic chemistry teaching laboratories. One well-known protocol involves substituting the renewable aldehyde furfural for benzaldehyde in the classic benzoin condensation; we now include a modified version of this green(er) “furoin condensation” in our teaching sequence. Since aldehydes are versatile molecules and renewable reagents are highly desirable, we decided to explore other reactions using furfural as a starting point. Based on promising preliminary results with a couple of syntheses (aldol condensation, pinacol coupling), we realized that the scope of reactions could be expanded to encompass experiments that illustrate most of the concepts taught throughout second-semester organic chemistry. In thinking about helping students make connections between different classes of reactions, we also realized that a common starting material (or derivative) could serve to underline the relationships between broad reaction classes (oxidation/reduction, acid/base catalysis, etc.). Therefore, we are currently in the process of developing a comprehensive lab sequence designed entirely around furfural. Preliminary results and our future plans will be presented.

Designing a comprehensive sequence of experiments around a single renewable molecule: Using furfural as a platform for teaching synthetic organic chemistry

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.