Integration of Computational Chemistry into the Chemistry Curriculum
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Ned H. Martin [1]
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[1] University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Department of Chemistry
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- Localización: Journal of chemical education, ISSN 0021-9584, Vol. 75, Nº 2 (February), 1998, págs. 241-243
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
Computational chemistry has been integrated into the chemistry curriculum at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington by incorporating laboratory experiments into six existing undergraduate chemistry courses and adding one new course. This initiative was sponsored by an ILI grant from the National Science Foundation, which provided computers and software. The existing courses affected by the curricular change include Introduction to Computer Applications and Chemical Literature, Organic Chemistry I and II, Advanced Techniques of Organic Chemistry, Biochemical Techniques and Instrumentation, and Medicinal Chemistry. The new course that has been added is Structural Chemistry and Computational Methodology. Experiments are described which integrate the use of molecular modeling for prediction with verification by laboratory experiment. The unifying theme we utilized is to couple computational predictions with experimental results as much as possible. We have attempted to teach computational chemistry as one of a number of tools available to chemists, rather than a separate field of endeavor. Preliminary evaluation of this initiative indicates that students enjoy visualizing models of chemical structures and that the incorporation of computational chemistry into the curriculum has increased their interest in chemistry.
