Microscale Organic Experiments: A Summer Institute

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A new approach to teaching undergraduate organic chemistry lab is to carry out the experiments on 1/100th to 1/1000th the scale previously used. In this way student exposure to substances which are toxic, flammable, corrosive, carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic is reduced by a corresponding amount and there are concomitant savings in the disposal of laboratory waste and the purchase of reagents and solvents. Since the apparatus and techniques for microscale experimentation differ form those used in the past, faculty need some guidance before embarking on this way of teaching the undergrade organic laboratory. To this end, a three week-long workshops on teaching microscale organic experiments are being conducted at Mount Holyoke College and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Participants have an opportunity to carry our microscale experiments under the principal investigator`s guidance, assisted by undergraduate who have helped develop these experiments. There is a strong emphasis on laboratory waste and disposal methods. Participants learn how to minimize laboratory waste and how to convert hazardous by-products to less hazardous material before declaring it a waste in addition to learning how to carry out microscale organic experiments. The faculty participants home universities will contribute to the cost of the program by paying for the cost of the travel to the program.