A Safe Way of Performing Some Dangerous Experiments. I. Construction of a Safety Spoon

The demonstrations of many remarkable experiments include a high safety risk (e.g. the reaction of large pieces of sodium/potassium with water; the reaction of potassium with liquid bromine; the reaction of sodium with concentrated sulfuric acid, etc.). Chemistry teachers and instructors are usually reluctant to perform experiments that include a hazard. As a result, a number of fascinating experiments remain unknown to the public. Using homemade devices (in this case a safety spoon) one can perform all the above experiments with complete safety, both for the audience and the demonstrator. Details for performing some of these dangerous experiments are given in this paper. In addition, the construction of a simple remote-controlled (RC) safety spoon is explained in detail. Video clips of two demonstrations are offered as an aid for inexperienced instructors.     

Deprotonative metalation using ate compounds: synergy, synthesis, and structure building

Historically, single-metal organometallic species such as organolithium compounds have been the reagents of choice in synthetic organic chemistry for performing deprotonation reactions. Over the past few years, a complementary new class of metalating agents has started to emerge. Owing to a variable central metal (magnesium, zinc, or aluminum), variable ligands (both in their nature and number), and a variable second metallic center (an alkali metal such as lithium or sodium), "ate" complexes are highly versatile bases that exhibit a synergic chemistry which cannot be replicated by the homometallic magnesium, zinc, or aluminum compounds on their own. Deprotonation accomplished by using these organometallic ate complexes has opened up new perspectives in organic chemistry with unprecedented reactivities and sometimes unusual and unpredictable regioselectivities.     

Spontaneous Assembly of Magnetic LEGO Bricks

This paper describes simple methods of demonstrating macroscale spontaneous assembly. These demonstrations can illustrate topics in college or high school chemistry courses, such as the thermodynamics of crystallization and the chelate effect. The assembling units are built from a combination of magnetic and conventional LEGO building blocks. Unlike many other spontaneous-assembly experiments, these assemblies do not require surface flotation to form.     

Brände und Explosionen vermeiden

Fires and explosions have cost many, too many lives, severed a plethora of humans and caused enormous expenses, not only in research and industry but even more in private life. Some basic principles of combustion processes, sources of ignition and the properties of combustible materials are illustrated and the knowledge of these will help to avoid many of these cases. Some experiments for lecture demonstrations are presented.     

Olefin metathesis in homogeneous aqueous media catalyzed by conventional ruthenium catalysts

Olefin metathesis in aqueous solvents is sought for applications in green chemistry and with the hydrophilic substrates of chemical biology, such as proteins and polysaccharides. Most demonstrations of metathesis in water, however, utilize exotic complexes. We have examined the performance of conventional catalysts in homogeneous water/organic mixtures, finding that the second-generation Hoveyda-Grubbs catalyst has extraordinary efficiency in aqueous dimethoxyethane and aqueous acetone. High (71-95%) conversions are achieved for ring-closing and cross metathesis of a variety of substrates in these solvent systems.     

Prediction of the Solubilities of Water in Hydrocarbons with COSMO-RS and Interpretation of the Solubility Characteristics

The solubilities of water in various hydrocarbons are usually needed to assess the water content in oil products. Because the solubilities of water in hydrocarbons are very small, which usually leads to large deviations in experiments, and because we have trouble carrying out experiments on bulk hydrocarbons, it is necessary to develop a more convenient molecular simulation approach to predict the solubility. In this paper, COSMO-RS, a statistical thermodynamic method based on quantum chemistry, has been employed to obtain the solubilities of water in n-alkanes, alkylcyclohexanes, alkylbenzenes and 1-alkenes by calculating the difference of the thermodynamic properties during the dissolution process. The predictions of COSMO-RS were compared with the experimental data, as well as those of API correlations and the Tsonopoulos correlation. The results indicate that COSMO-RS can better predict the trends of the solubility with high accuracy, where the deviations are within ± 29.41%. The characteristics of the solubilities of water in various hydrocarbons are interpreted systemically, especially for the influence of carbon number, CN. It particularly focuses on the non-monotonicity of the solubility curves of water in n-alkanes with the increase of CN. In addition, the effect of temperature on the characteristic of solubility is simultaneously investigated.     

Using Molecular Modeling in the Organic Chemistry Course for Majors

Molecular modeling provides a way to correlate theoretical concepts with experimental data; therefore, we have introduced organic chemistry students to molecular modeling early in the first semester. This approach provides students with additional skills for clarifying chemical and theoretical concepts by means of demonstrations in the classroom and hands-on tutorial modules. In this manner the impact of the active-learning process is increased. In addition, this tool allows us to further enhance laboratory experiments already developed using a guided-inquiry approach and to design new experiments. Chemical concepts such as conformational analysis, stereochemistry, IR spectra, molecular and electronic properties, molecular orbitals, and chemical reactivity are emphasized through this approach.     

Activities to foster training in nuclear and radiochemistry from IACS,IAEA-Vienna

Summary Given the mismatch between supply of and demand for nuclear scientists, education in nuclear and radiochemistry has become a serious concern. The Nuclear and Radiochemistry in Chemistry Education (NRIChEd) Curriculum Project was undertaken to reintroduce the topics normally covered in a one-semester radiochemistry course into the traditional courses of a four-year chemistry major: general chemistry, organic chemistry, quantitative and instrumental analysis, and physical chemistry. NRIChEd uses a three-pronged approach that incorporates radiochemistry topics when related topics in the basic courses are covered, presents special topics of general interest as a vehicle for teaching nuclear and radiochemistry alongside traditional chemistry, and incorporates the use of non-licensed amounts of radioactive substances in demonstrations and student laboratory experiments. This approach seeks not only to reestablish nuclear science in the chemistry curriculum, but to use it as a tool for elucidating fundamental and applied aspects of chemistry as well. Moreover, because of its relevance in many academic areas, nuclear science enriches the chemistry curriculum by encouraging interdisciplinary thinking and problem solving.     

Some Aspects of the Spontaneous Solubility Equilibria of Solid Carbonates

In order to adequately carry out the laboratory procedures usually taught in a general analytical chemistry course, students must master the subject of multiple equilibria in aqueous solution, both conceptually and mathematically. The use of a computer program to solve the concentrations of all species at equilibrium with a slightly soluble compound is frequently recommended in the chemical education literature, due to its simplicity and quickness. But, when this calculation procedure fails to consider other important reactions aside from the solubility equilibrium itself, significant differences in the numerical results may be obtained. For several metal carbonates, the usual procedure to calculate their solubilities is to consider carbonate ion hydrolysis as the only additional reaction.In this paper it is shown numerically and graphically that for magnesium and silver carbonates, the precipitation reaction of metal (hydr)oxides would occur at the pH value calculated from the carbonate dissolution plus the anion hydrolysis equilibria. An analytical procedure to solve these complex multiple equilibria system is presented. The final solution to the problem is obtained through a high-order equation that is easily solved by a simple iterative method. The correct solubility-pH curve for the metal carbonates is calculated, and the pH values for the metal hydroxide precipitation onset for several important representative and transition metal carbonates are shown. It is concluded that the overall procedures to solve these multiple equilibria problems are not beyond the comprehension of any chemistry student with a acceptable background in general, inorganic, and analytical chemistry, and that by focusing on tasks such as these, important critical-thinking skills can be obtained.     

A new procedure for preparation of anhydrous perchloric acid employing anhydrous magnesium perchlorate

The dehydration of hydrated perchloric acid to yield anhydrous acid is described. Anhydrous (5·5% water content) magnesium perchlorate is employed as desiccant followed by distillation under reduced pressure. The new procedure is less complicated than previously described processes, and is convenient for the preparation of small amounts to be employed in studies of the preparation of anhydrous metallic perchlorates from reactions with suitable selected reagents, and for convenient lecture demonstrations.     

点击化学在食品安全检测中的应用研究进展

点击化学因具有反应模块化、无有毒有害副产物、反应效率高等出色的反应性能备受关注,是继组合化学之后又一新型合成技术,在材料表面功能化、大分子聚合物的合成、生物标记等领域得到了广泛应用。点击反应试剂的活性基团易于修饰在其他化学基团上,表明点击反应有望作为中间反应介导特定反应的信号转换或放大。近几年出现了大量基于点击化学构建的一系列分析检测方法,此类分析方法具有检测限低、线性范围广、可对目标分析物进行准确定量的优势,有着良好的应用前景。经典的点击反应——“叠氮-炔环加成(CuAAC)”是点击反应中应用最为广泛的反应,具有传感反应所需的几个独特优势：(1)以Cu+作为催化剂可极大提高反应效率以及反应灵敏度;(2)炔烃和叠氮基间的正交反应决定了良好的反应特异性;(3)反应对环境条件(温度、水、pH值等)不敏感,能够在室温和水溶剂条件下进行。这些良好的反应性能使得利用CuAAC反应构建灵敏度高、特异性好且稳定性强的传感检测方法成为可能。食品安全检测是控制食品中危害物、保障公众健康的重要手段。当前食品安全监测常用的技术手段几乎都依赖于一些笨重的仪器设备而无法具有较高检测效率,点击化学的优越性能为食品安全检测提供了新的思路。该文综述了点击化学的概念、主要反应类型、反应原理以及特点,对基于点击化学的一系列快速检测方法如比色法、荧光法、电化学法等进行列表比较,并着重介绍了CuAAC反应在检测食品成分及添加剂、农残兽残、真菌毒素、重金属以及食源性致病菌方面的应用实例,最后指出了现阶段CuAAC反应在应用中存在的不足,并对其在食品安全检测等研究领域的应用前景进行了展望。     

The origin of sticking between a hydroperoxy radical and a water surface

An understanding of how gas-phase radicals in the earth's atmosphere become incorporated with liquid-phase cloud droplets is a vital part of understanding the chemical budgeting of these highly reactive species. Recent studies have suggested that hydroperoxy radicals (HO2) have an affinity for binding to a water surface. The calculations presented here are used to extricate the components of the attractive contribution of the intermolecular interactions that are responsible for the unusually strong binding between the hydroperoxy radical and a water surface. The analyses reveal that, for the binding of an HO2 radical to a water surface, the two water molecules nearest the radical are the most relevant to the bonding and the addition of other water molecules has little affect on the bonding between the radical and the two nearest waters. These results suggest that, once the HO2 is bound to the surface, the binding is a relatively local phenomenon. Identifying the properties responsible for the strong attraction is an important result that can be used to identify other radical systems whose chemistry might be impacted by the presence of water.     

The selective addition of water to C=C bonds; enzymes are the best chemists

Water is the liquid of life. Nature has therefore evolved countless enzymes that catalyse the addition of water to C=C bonds, isolated or conjugated. These reactions are regio- and enantioselective, they are part of primary metabolism as well as the secondary metabolism. The enzymes that catalyse these reactions (hydratases or hydro-lyases) are applied industrially in selected cases. However, they are not generally used in the laboratory although they outperform all currently available catalytic chemical methodologies. This feature article highlights the potential that hydratases have for chemistry compared to the acid catalysed addition of water.     

Recent advances in the chemistry of magnesium carbenoids

This tutorial review deals with recent advances in the chemistry and synthetic use of magnesium carbenoids. The reactivity of traditional carbenoids (alpha-haloalkyllithium species) was successfully reduced by using magnesium as the metal instead of lithium. Properties of these relatively stable carbenoids, magnesium carbenoids, were widely investigated and it was found that the magnesium carbenoids have very interesting reactivity toward several nucleophiles. The magnesium carbenoids, magnesium cyclopropylidenes, magnesium alkylidene carbenoids, and magnesium beta-oxido carbenoids are generated from alpha-chloroalkyl (or alpha-chloroalkenyl) aryl sulfoxides with a Grignard reagent at low temperature by sulfoxide-magnesium exchange reaction. The stability of the generated magnesium carbenoids and several new reactions based on the electrophilicity of the magnesium carbenoids, including 1,3-CH insertion, are reviewed. Magnesium carbenoids open up the new world of the chemistry of carbenoids.     

Truncated fragments in polymerase chain reaction-based DNA sequencing

Reconstitution experiments were performed by using an ordinary dye-primer protocol of a template spiked with known amounts of truncated fragments. We observed that as little as 0.2 mole-percentage of the truncated fragment caused sequence interpretation problems. Two protocols were developed for sequencing with dye-labeled terminators; this eliminates the problems with truncated fragments, which are adapted to a one-dye chemistry. One was designed for single extension sequencing using T7 DNA polymerase and one for cycle sequencing. To avoid precipitation and centrifugation and to facilitate automation, the dye-terminator protocols included the use of a biotinylated sequencing primer. Thus, the Sanger fragments were recovered and, by magnetic separation, washed and released by formamide, EDTA, and heat treatment before loading on the electrophoresis gel. Integrated procedures for sequencing PCR products using one-dye-labeled terminators suitable for automation are described. High quality data in terms of long reads and detection of polymorphisms is obtained. The protocols serve as attractive alternatives to internal labeling and dye-primer approaches.     

Regioselective Ring‐Opening Polymerization of a Polyhydroxycarboxylic Acid for the Synthesis of a Nanoscale Carrier Material with pH‐Dependent Stability and Sustained Drug Release

Synthetic polyesters are usually composed of monohydroxycarboxylic acids to avoid the problem of regioselectivity during ring‐opening polymerization. In contrast, the linear polyester BICpoly contains four secondary OH groups and is nevertheless esterified regioselectively at only one of these positions. Neither the synthesis of the tricyclic monomers nor the ring‐opening polymerization requires protecting groups, making BICpoly an attractive novel and biocompatible polymer. BICpoly nanoparticles can be loaded with low‐molecular weight drugs or coated onto surfaces as thin films. The release of loaded compounds makes BICpoly an attractive depot for drug release, as shown herein by loading BICpoly with dyes or the cytostatic drug doxorubicin. BICpoly is distinguishable from other polymers by its characteristic pH‐dependent degradation.     

“元素化学实验”中的“异常”现象(一)--Mn元素化学实验中的“异常”现象及其探析

大一学生在“元素化学实验”教学过程中,对反应条件如温度、催化剂、酸度、浓度或试剂用量等因素的影响考虑不周,可能出现某些实验现象和预想的或理论分析的结果不一致的“异常”现象。本文就学生在Mn元素化学实验过程中遇到的一些“异常”现象进行分析和总结,借助生动直观的演示实验,引导学生探究“异常”现象产生的可能原因和直观认识反应条件对反应结果的影响,培养学生的观察、分析、判断、归纳、推理和解决实际问题的能力。     

“元素化学实验”中的“异常”现象(一)--Mn元素化学实验中的“异常”现象及其探析

大一学生在“元素化学实验”教学过程中,对反应条件如温度、催化剂、酸度、浓度或试剂用量等因素的影响考虑不周,可能出现某些实验现象和预想的或理论分析的结果不一致的“异常”现象。本文就学生在Mn元素化学实验过程中遇到的一些“异常”现象进行分析和总结,借助生动直观的演示实验,引导学生探究“异常”现象产生的可能原因和直观认识反应条件对反应结果的影响,培养学生的观察、分析、判断、归纳、推理和解决实际问题的能力。     

A Primer on the Analytical Aspects of Silicones at Trace Levels-Challenges and Artifacts – A Review

Silicones (polydimethylsiloxanes) find use in a wide variety of industrial and consumer product applications because of their outstanding properties. Potential human exposure to silicones occurs at the work place during manufacturing and product formulation, as well as through the normal use of consumer products containing them.The entry of silicones into various environmental compartments raised health and safety concerns from potential exposure and mandated numerous environmental and toxicological studies. Such studies require qualitative and quantitative determination of silicone species at trace levels. However, the ubiquitous presence of silicones coupled with their unique chemistry renders their analysis at trace levels challenging.This paper provides a consolidated account of various aspects silicones that must be borne in mind to obtain reliable data. The following are some of topics discussed: differences in the chemistry of silicones vs carbon; precautions in sample handling to avoid losses and inadvertent chemical transformation; potential sources for artifacts and interferences that could lead to systematic errors and data misinterpretation; sources for background and the need for matrix matched blank experiments; distinguishing silicones from silicates to avoid overestimation; potential for incorrect structural assignments; preventing inadvertent contamination; questionable claims on the presence of silicones in biological matrices including that of silicone implants.     

联二炔囊泡的光致聚合、热致变色及应用

物理化学实验为各大高校本科化学教学的主干实验课程之一。虽然各高校的物理化学实验内容已十分丰富,但仍然缺乏将不同章节知识点融会贯通以及与学科前沿密切联系的综合型实验内容。我们根据南开大学郭东升教授课题组发表的一篇有关联二炔程序性响应检测胆碱酯酶的工作设计了“联二炔囊泡的光致聚合、热致变色及应用”的物理化学实验,涉及到联二炔缔合胶体的制备、联二炔的紫外光致聚合反应和聚联二炔的热致变色,进而显示其在防伪领域的潜在应用价值。希望通过此实验,使学生对物理化学中的缔合胶体、光化学、热力学、动力学等章节有更深一步的贯通性掌握,并了解自组装、光聚合、变色材料和防伪等相关研究领域的前沿动态。