Organic Chemistry I Laboratory

The experiments in this course have been chosen to illustrate important organic techniques.

Laboratory Notebooks
You will be asked to keep a careful record of your work in a laboratory notebook containing carbon-copy duplicate pages. The original copy will remain in your notebook for reference later in the course, and the carbon copy will be turned in for grading. Try to make your lab notebook as legible and organized as possible, but don’t worry if you need to cross something out or change it--real science is sometimes messy! Write using ink.

Your laboratory notebook should include each of the following sections for each and every lab, under clear sub-headings. The first three sections should be completed before you come to lab:

(a) Title, date, and experiment number. Also, name of your laboratory partner, if you had one for this experiment.

(b) Purpose: A brief summary of the purpose of the experiment.

(c) Methods: A brief summary of the process followed in the experiment. It may be in a flow-chart, outline, or some similar visually-accessible form. You need not repeat all of the details in the lab handout, but you should make it clear that you have thought about the experiment ahead of time. You should find that it guides you as you go along.

You should work on the last three sections as you go along. You must finish as much of your write up as possible and get your instructor to sign your lab book before you leave.

(d) Observations and Data: A careful record of what happened as you did the experiment. Did a precipitate form, two liquids separate into layers, or the color change? At what stage of the experiment did this happen? Include measurements, descriptions of the solutions, sketches of chromatographic separations, and all spectra. You also must indicate any changes you made in the experimental procedure.

(e) Discussion and Conclusions: Comment here on the overall level of success and the ease or otherwise with which success was achieved. Include any conclusions you have drawn about the purity or yield of your material, and discuss what your results may have revealed about the technique or the reaction.

(f) Answers to Questions: The questions are usually related to practical elements of the experiments. You should look at the questions during the laboratory sessions and talk over the ideas with your instructor or TA.

Laboratory Safety
During this class we will work with a range of solvents, organic molecules, acids, and bases which could be harmful if you were to splash them into your eye or onto your skin. For your own protection, we must require you to wear laboratory goggles, which you can purchase at the campus store in Blanchard. Yes, they are ugly and uncomfortable, but they are so very very important. You may not wear open sandals, but instead must wear closed shoes. Furthermore, we advise you wear clothing that fully covers your torso. (Shirts with spagetti straps and bare midriffs might be cute, but burns on your chest and stomach are not).

On a related note, these lab handouts clearly indicate which chemicals should be used in the hood because of possible inhalation hazards. Please read the labs carefully and follow the directions.

Finally, it is important to us that we be considerate of the environment. Solvents may not under any circumstances be poured down the sink. Use the appropriate designated waste bottles for halogenated and non-halogenated waste.