The Physical Science Department at Mesa Community College (Mesa, Arizona) is developing a novel organic chemistry laboratory curriculum that uses the natural products found in local native plants such as jojoba and chia as a starting point for laboratory activities using guided inquiry. MCC chemistry faculty Timothy Minger, Valentina Nedelkova and John Zikopoulos have been designing and implementing laboratory activities for undergraduate students to extract, purify, and study organic molecules from desert plants. The project is funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation awarded in 2012 (“Organic Chemistry and Native Plants of the Sonoran Desert: A New Model for the Undergraduate Laboratory”, NSF grant 1140887). Project progress is being evaluated by M. Jean Young & Associates of Tucson using formative and summative assessments. Project objectives include isolating and identifying materials from native plants; providing hands-on training for students in key organic laboratory instrumentation for analysis and purification of plant materials; introducing students to variety of applications of the compounds found in plants, <i>e.g., </i>medicinal, agricultural and other contexts; and encouraging student participation in independent study outside the lab classes. Many of these native plants hold a traditional place of importance in Hispanic and Native American cultures and have medicinal and other applications. MCC students and others are getting hands-on experience with applying actual research methods to contemporary and relevant scientific topics. Over the last three years, students taking organic chemistry lab courses at MCC have worked with a variety of plants. For example, our students have extracted oil from the seeds of the jojoba plant and converted it to biodiesel using a transesterification reaction. They have also extracted and analyzed the oil from chia seeds, learning about fatty acids and triglycerides in the process.

Organic chemistry and the native plants of the Sonoran Desert: A new model for the undergraduate laboratory

249th National Meeting (2015)

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