Undergraduate experiments in fullerene electrochemistry and photophysics

摘要

A project-oriented undergraduate lab module centered on fullerene properties is described. The half-semsster course is designed for third-and fourth-year undergraduate chemistry majors. Working in pairs, students first perform Soxhlet extraction of commercially obtained fullerene coot. The component fullerenes are separated from the resulting extrat using HPLC. Students measure UV-visible absorption spectra of each fullerene and submit samples for mass spectrometric and ~13C NMR analysis. They then use specialized apparatus to investigate electrochemical properties of their smaples through cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. and photophycial properties through transient aborption kinetics. In this module, students are exposed to concepts and method kinetics. In this module, students are exposed to concepts and methods of preparative, analytical, and physical chemistry. The appeal of working with fullerenes is a specia motivating factor that has made this course popular and, it appears, educationally effective.