Development and Practice of Electronic Lab Book for College Chemistry Experiment - SN1 and SN2 Reactions

Abstract

We developed a computer graphics (CG) teaching material (TM) for university students, concerning reactions involving drastic changes in the structure of the reactants in the following chlorination, for example SN1: formation of tert-butyl chloride from tert-butanol and SN2: formation of 1-chlorobutane from 1-butanol. The CG-TM could clearly demonstrate the changes in the structures during the reaction by the ball-and-stick model, in addition to the image of the energy change in terms of the reaction profile. An electronic lab-book for chemical experiments in the students’ laboratory at the university was produced, aiming at the integration of observable-level experiments, symbolic chemical equations, and the molecular world. The lab-book displays pictures of apparatus, flow-chart of experimental procedures, and reaction mechanisms with the CG-TM. A preliminary study on the effectiveness of the CG-TM suggested that students were able to obtain images of SN1 and SN2 reactions.