A number of laboratory experiments have been published that are discovery-oriented and move away from the typical 'cookbook' experiments.  One multi-week experiment developed at our institution exposes students to distillation, chromatography and spectroscopy.  Steam distillation of herbs and spices is done in the first week.  In the second week, they analyze and purify the material by chromatography and collect NMR spectra.  The third week is devoted to data sharing and analysis of their identification of isolated products. The analogous traditional labs involve an individual chromatography experiment, and a separate individual spectroscopy lab using NMR and IR to identify unknowns.  Students in both the discovery-oriented and traditional labs were given an NMR quiz at the end of the semester, as well as a survey measuring their perceptions of the laboratory experience.  Comparison of the two lab procedures and analysis of the students test results will be presented here.

Comparison of students' abilities to interpret NMR in discovery-based and traditional organic laboratories

244th National Meeting (2012)

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