On Thursday, November 4th UConn Early College Experience and the Chemistry Department invite all certified UConn ECE Chemistry Instructors to participate in the annual professional development conference.
This workshop is being held online via WebEx.
WebEx Information:
Join via direct link at: https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/uconn-cmr/j.php?MTID=m0b69d5deca855a9cd4185648469a5750
If ever prompted for a password enter: HpY2icQGc85
Agenda:
9:00 Welcome and Introductions
9:10 Dr. Kerry Gilmore, UConn Chemistry Department
Green Chemistry – Making Medicines and Chemistry in the Classroom
Abstract: A longstanding goal in chemistry is the replication and improvement of natural processes for the synthesis of molecules. One of the most efficient processes in the natural world is the conversion of light into chemical energy. Light is a perfect means of initiating and driving chemical reactions, as it is a traceless reagent (i.e. it leaves no byproducts, no residues, and is immediately removed from solution with a flick of a switch). While photochemistry has been an active area of research over the past 100 years, it has only been in the last 15 years or so that we have seen an explosion in the capabilities and applications of photochemistry. This is in part due to the introduction of continuous flow technology, allowing chemistry to be performed in processes more akin to assembly lines than the big buckets currently used. In this seminar, we will talk about this more green and efficient means of production and it’s facilitating impact on photochemistry. We will then showcase the power of this approach for the generation and use of singlet oxygen. This excited state of oxygen gas is the cleanest, simplest oxidizing agent available, and it is the key reactant in the production of anti-malarial medication. In a recently developed process, we can remove all the catalysts and compounds required to make anti-malarials directly from plants and, using our technological approaches, perform accelerated photosynthesis for the scalable, literally green production of medications. Lastly, we’ll discuss how these chemistries can be performed in the classroom, and open up the discussion for collaborative work in this area in the development of new processes, screening natural catalysts, and bringing advanced chemical processes to your classrooms.
10:10 Break
10:20 UConn ECE Chemistry Updates and Q& A
11:00 Closing Comments
