Asymmetric Aldol Additions: A Guided-Inquiry Laboratory Activity on Catalysis

• Jorge H. Torres King ^[1] ; Hong Wang ^[2] ; Ellen J. Yezierski ^[1]
  1. [1] Miami University

     Miami University

     Township of Oxford, Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] University of North Texas

     University of North Texas

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Journal of chemical education, ISSN 0021-9584, Vol. 95, Nº 1, 2018, págs. 158-163
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Despite the importance of asymmetric catalysis in both the pharmaceutical and commodity chemicals industries, asymmetric catalysis is under-represented in undergraduate chemistry laboratory curricula. A novel guided-inquiry experiment based on the asymmetric aldol addition was developed. Students conduct lab work to compare the effectiveness of different catalysts in catalyzing the asymmetric aldol addition of a ketone and an aldehyde. Working in pairs, students use a variety of analytical techniques including 1-D and 2-D NMR spectroscopy and chiral chromatography and write their final report in the format of an ACS style publication. Although this experiment was designed for an advanced undergraduate synthesis laboratory course, it can be readily adapted for use in an organic or an inorganic laboratory course.