Chemists Celebrate Earth Week 2022 will be celebrated April 17-23, 2022 with the theme, "The Buzz About Bugs: Insect Chemistry." To help explore this topic, the Journal of Chemical Education has resources for bringing ideas to students on chemistry, insects, and the natural world. Through the articles and experiments listed below, students can examine the properties of insects, explore insects and scent, experiment with natural products, and investigate insecticides and insect repellents. With 99 volumes of interesting material on a wide variety of topics, it is easy to connect the classroom experience to the greater world through the Journal of Chemical Education.

Chemists Celebrate Earth Week 2022 will be celebrated April 17-23, 2022 with the theme, “The Buzz About Bugs: Insect Chemistry.” To help explore this topic, the Journal of Chemical Education has resources for bringing ideas to students on chemistry, insects, and the natural world. Through the articles and experiments listed below, students can examine the properties of insects, explore insects and scent, experiment with natural products, and investigate insecticides and insect repellents. With 99 volumes of interesting material on a wide variety of topics, it is easy to connect the classroom experience to the greater world through the Journal of Chemical Education.

Editorial
Connecting Chemistry Education and Insects
Thomas Holme
Journal of Chemical Education 2022 99 (4), 1545-1546
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00233

Properties of Insects

Investigating Nanoscopic Structures on a Butterfly Wing To Explore Solvation and Coloration
Brittany A. Bober, Jennifer K. Ogata, Veronica E. Martinez, Janae J. Hallinan, Taylor A. Leach, and Bogdan Negru
Journal of Chemical Education 2018, 95 (6), 1004-1011
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00463

Chiroptical Smart Paints: Polymerization of Helical Structures in Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Films
Hyeyoon Ko, Minwook Kim, Youngjae Wi, Minwoo Rim, Seok-In Lim, Jahyeon Koo, Dong-Gue Kang, and Kwang-Un Jeong
Journal of Chemical Education 2021, 98 (8), 2649-2654
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00168

Bringing Light to Science Undergraduate Students: A Successful Laboratory Experiment Illustrating the Principles and Applications of Bioluminescence
Ángel Luis García-Ponce, José Antonio Torres-Vargas, Melissa García-Caballero, Miguel Ángel Medina, Ángel Blanco-López, and Ana R. Quesada
Journal of Chemical Education 2021, 98 (7), 2419-2429
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00536

Electroless Deposition on Three Substrates: Brass Washers, Cicada Exoskeletons, and Beetles
Craig J. Donahue, Amina Marini, Codruta Savu, and Hanan Yehya
Journal of Chemical Education 2019, 96 (10), 2279-2285
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b00055

Insects and Scent

Transmutation of Scent: An Evaluation of the Synthesis of Methyl Cinnamate, a Commercial Fragrance, via a Fischer Esterification for the Second-Year Organic Laboratory
Jacob H. Steele, Marie X. Bozor, and Gregory R. Boyce
Journal of Chemical Education 2020, 97 (11), 4127-4132
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00861

Learning Organic Chemistry through a Study of Semiochemicals
Johannes Pernaa and Maija Aksela
Journal of Chemical Education 2011, 88 (12), 1644-1647
DOI: 10.1021/ed900050g

The Synthesis of a Cockroach Pheromone. An Experiment for the Second-Year Organic Chemistry Laboratory
Patty L. Feist
Journal of Chemical Education 2008, 85 (11), 1548-1549
DOI: 10.1021/ed085p1548

Determination of Plant Volatiles Using Solid Phase Microextraction GC–MS
Scott Van Bramer and Katherine R. Goodrich
Journal of Chemical Education 2015, 92 (5), 916-919
DOI: 10.1021/ed5006807

Insects and Natural Products

The Chemical Composition of Honey
David W. Ball
Journal of Chemical Education 2007, 84 (10), 1643
DOI: 10.1021/ed084p1643

Natural Product Total Synthesis in the Organic Laboratory: Total Synthesis of Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester (CAPE), A Potent 5-Lipoxygenase Inhibitor from Honeybee Hives
Mohamed Touaibia and Michel Guay
Journal of Chemical Education 2011, 88 (4), 473-475
DOI: 10.1021/ed100050z

Synthesis and Analytical Characterization of Purpurogallin: A Pharmacologically Active Constituent of Oak Galls
Alexandra E. Kelly-Hunt, Aman Mehan, Sarah Brooks, Miron A. Leanca, Jack E. D. McKay, Nashad Mahamed, Daniel Lambert, Nicola M. Dempster, Robert J. Allen, Andrew R. Evans, Satyajit D Sarker, Lutfun Nahar, George P. Sharples, Michael G. B. Drew, Alistair J. Fielding, and Fyaz M. D. Ismail
Journal of Chemical Education 2022, 99 (2), 983-993
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00699

Synthesis, Characterization, and Secondary Structure Determination of a Silk-Inspired, Self-Assembling Peptide: A Laboratory Exercise for Organic and Biochemistry Courses
Tyler J. Albin, Melany M. Fry, and Amanda R. Murphy
Journal of Chemical Education 2014, 91 (11), 1981-1984
DOI: 10.1021/ed5001203

Polyester-making bees and other innovative insect chemists
Suzanne W. T. Batra
Journal of Chemical Education 1985, 62 (2), 121
DOI: 10.1021/ed062p121

Bioplastics in the General Chemistry Laboratory: Building a Semester-Long Research Experience
Alexandra M. Ward and Graeme R. A. Wyllie
Journal of Chemical Education 2019, 96 (4), 668-676
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00666

An Advanced Spectroscopy Lab That Integrates Art, Commerce, and Science as Students Determine the Electronic Structure of the Common Pigment Carminic Acid
Suqing Liu, Asami Odate, Isabella Buscarino, Jacqueline Chou, Kathleen Frommer, Margeaux Miller, Alison Scorese, Marisa C. Buzzeo, and Rachel Narehood Austin
Journal of Chemical Education 2017, 94 (2), 216-220
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00644

Introducing Students to Fundamental Chemistry Concepts and Basic Research through a Chemistry of Fashion Course for Nonscience Majors
Karen A. Tallman
Journal of Chemical Education 2019, 96 (9), 1906-1913
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00826

Insecticides and Insect Repellents

Phytochemical Analysis and Determination of the Chemical Composition of Larvicidal Extracts of Black Pepper (Piper nigrum L.) Waste: An Undergraduate Chemistry Experiment
Danielle R. Lucas, Thaiany S. C. Bressiani, Anne C. C. Gomes, Ingrid M. Hayashide, Naomi K. Simas, Maria F. F. Lelis, Ricardo M. Kuster, and Paulo R. G. Moura
Journal of Chemical Education 2021, 98 (4), 1397-1403
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c01106

Analysis of Pesticides in Plant Foods by QuEChERS and Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry: An Undergraduate Laboratory Experiment
Matt J. Hengel, Jon W. Wong, Zachary C. Redman, Caitlin Rering, and Katryn L. Williams
Journal of Chemical Education 2020, 97 (1), 226-233
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b00476

Biological Impact and Ethical Implications of Pesticide Use: A Short Module for Upper-Division-Undergraduate Biochemistry Courses
Lisa M. Ryno and Cheryl Cottine
Journal of Chemical Education 2018, 95 (10), 1771-1777
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00379

Project-Based Learning in Undergraduate Environmental Chemistry Laboratory: Using EPA Methods To Guide Student Method Development for Pesticide Quantitation
Eric J. Davis, Steve Pauls, and Jonathan Dick
Journal of Chemical Education 2017, 94 (4), 451-457
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00352

Liquid-Liquid Extraction of Insecticides from Juice: An Analytical Chemistry Laboratory Experiment
Samantha A. Radford, Ronald E. Hunter, Dana Boyd Barr, and P. Barry Ryan
Journal of Chemical Education 2013, 90 (4), 483-486
DOI: 10.1021/ed300389p

An Indexed Combinatorial Library: The Synthesis and Testing of Insect Repellents
William H. Miles, Kathy A. Gelato, Kristen M. Pompizzi, Aislinn M. Scarbinsky, Brian K. Albrecht, and Elaine R. Reynolds
Journal of Chemical Education 2001, 78 (4), 540-542
DOI: 10.1021/ed078p540

Operationally Simple Synthesis of N,N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET) Using COMU as a Coupling Reagent
Jonathan M. Withey and Andrea Bajic
Journal of Chemical Education 2015, 92 (1), 175-178
DOI: 10.1021/ed500488x

Synthesis of N,N-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET): Two Ways to the Same Goal
Jean Christophe Habeck, Lamine Diop, and Michael Dickman
Journal of Chemical Education 2010, 87 (5), 528-529
DOI: 10.1021/ed800169h

Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of a Natural Insecticide on Basic Montmorillonite K10 Clay. Green Chemistry in the Undergraduate Organic Laboratory
Matthew R. Dintzner, Paul R. Wucka, and Thomas W. Lyons
Journal of Chemical Education 2006, 83 (2), 270-272
DOI: 10.1021/ed083p270

Chemistry of Moth Repellents
Gabriel Pinto
Journal of Chemical Education 2005, 82 (9), 1321
DOI: 10.1021/ed082p1321

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