Development of Specific Aldol Condensation Reactions for use in Organic Chemistry Laboratory

The purpose of this project is the development of specific aldol condensation reactions to be used in organic chemistry laboratory. Aldol condensation involves the reaction of an aldehyde with a ketone to form an α,β-unsaturated ketone. Aldol reactions currently used in introductory organic laboratory involve unvaried starting materials, meaning the entire lab section runs the same reaction. This project will look at varying starting materials for the reaction, so that the lab groups will be running different overall reactions. Aldol condensations that show unique characteristics will also be investigated. These could be stereo specific aldol reactions, solvent-less aldol reactions, or other unique reactions. The hope is to eventually be able to implement these new reactions into the advanced organic chemistry laboratory.

Investigation of regioselective epoxide ring-opening reactions

The conversion of alkenes to epoxides is an important synthetic transformation in organic chemistry. Epoxides are important synthetic intermediates with high reactivity and good selectivity in their ring-opening reactions. Epoxide ring-opening reaction mechanisms are outlined in undergraduate organic chemistry textbooks, but there are few laboratory experiments utilizing the reactivity and selectivity of epoxide ring-opening reactions to accompany these mechanistic concepts. The regioselective epoxidation of carvone under two different reaction conditions has been reported previously. That work will be extended by studying the ring opening reactions of epoxides under acid catalyzed conditions and nucleophilic reactions conditions to examine the regioselectivity of these mechanisms. Results from this research will be used to design an undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory experiment.

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