A Green Program in Extraction and Separation Chemistry for Incorporation into the Undergraduate Curriculum

University Of Oregon Eugene, Eugene OR

Investigators

Abstract

Chemistry (12) A sequence of laboratory experiments is being developed which introduce environmentally responsible techniques of chemical separations and extractions into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. These laboratory experiments form an integral component of a green laboratory curriculum in chemistry being developed with advice and participation from local government agencies. The project adapts experiments from physical chemistry and analytical chemistry laboratory texts and from the Journal of Chemical Education, and adapts methodology being developed by Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority or the EPA. The goals of the new curriculum are (1) to prepare chemistry majors for a changing emphasis in the chemical industry in which waste management at the source plays an ever more important role in chemical processes and (2) to train chemistry students and others in the analysis of environmentally important field samples such as air and ground water. The laboratory course constitutes an essential component of the new program since it exposes chemistry majors to cutting edge issues in extraction and separation using state of the art instrumentation in an area not traditionally covered in undergraduate chemistry curricula. Students are introduced to green chemistry as they make use of (1) instrumentation to provide cutting- edge analytical techniques such as supercritical fluid chromatography as well as more conventional HPLC capability, (2) facilities for measurements of the physical and chemical properties of environmentally friendly solvents as they pass through the critical point, and (3) a GC/ MS station for use in environmental monitoring and organic analysis.