Through the generous support of:

The National Science Foundation, Division of Undergraduate Education: Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement--Adaptation & Implementation (DUE-9952602), 2000, $17,279

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences (SG-00-055), 2000, $10,000

Millikin University

Illinois State Matching Grant Program

Contents

Abstract
The Polarimeter
The Chiral Detector
Use in Courses

The Millikin University Department of Chemistry is integrating an automatic polarimeter and a chiral detector into courses including Organic Chemistry lecture and laboratory, Biochemistry lecture and laboratory, Organic and Biochemistry for nursing majors, research-oriented General Chemistry laboratory, Chemistry for non-science majors, and undergraduate research. The purpose of this integration is three-fold: to promote student awareness of and participation in green chemistry, or the reduction of adverse environmental impact in an economically-responsible manner, to facilitate student understanding of stereochemical concepts, and to increase student exposure to modern instrumentation that is used in industrial and academic research laboratories. These purposes complement the goals already shared by the department and Millikin's NSF Institution-Wide Curriculum Reform Project in science.

The polarimeter will be used in combination with other instruments in the Department of Chemistry to characterize optically-active products of environmentally-benign laboratory methods. The objectives of this project are to train students to eliminate waste products before they form, use water as a reaction medium, switch to biodegradable and non-toxic reagents, replace stoichiometric methods with catalytic alternatives, and understand stereochemistry as a classification scheme. This latter objective falls under the rubric of a campus-wide NSF curriculum-reform grant that is underway and will culminate with the publication of a laboratory manual of modules suitable for non-science majors. When this project is fully implemented, over 100 Millikin students per year will feel its impact.

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The polarimeter is a Rudolph Instruments, Inc. DigiPol-DP781-38U with a motorized three source slide populated with sodium, mercury and cadmium lamps and a filter wheel with filters for 589 nm sodium, 577, 546, 436, 405 and 365 nm mercury, 325 nm cadmium, and one blank position. The instrument is mounted on a movable cart (along with a Constant Temperature Bath with digital controller and a Gateway E-1400 650 computer) for ease of movement between rooms.

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The chiral detector is a PDR Chiral, Inc. Model ALP 2000.01 with a 21.5 microliter prep flowcell for use with a High Pressure Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC).

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Chemistry 301--Organic Chemistry I: The polarimeter is used for demonstrations of optical activity.

Chemistry 251--Intermediate Chemistry Laboratory I (Analytical-Organic): The polarimeter is used for qualitative identification of unknown organic compounds.

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