Chemistry laboratory techniques
Undergraduate · Chemistry
Syllabus focus
Topics typically covered
Standard syllabus
Laboratory safety and ethics
- Chemical hygiene plan and OSHA laboratory standards
- Safety data sheets (SDS) and hazard pictograms
- Personal protective equipment: goggles, gloves, lab coats
- Fume hood use and ventilation principles
- Chemical storage and incompatible materials
- Fire safety: extinguishers, flammables cabinets
- Spill response and emergency procedures
- Waste disposal: aqueous, organic, heavy metals, sharps
- Laboratory notebook standards and data integrity
- Academic honesty in laboratory reporting
Measurement and quantitative techniques
- Significant figures and uncertainty in measurements
- Analytical balance and weighing techniques
- Volumetric glassware: pipettes, burets, volumetric flasks
- Calibration of thermometers and pH meters
- Preparation of standard solutions
- Serial dilution and concentration calculations
- Titration techniques and endpoint detection
- Gravimetric analysis procedures
- Spectrophotometric measurements and calibration curves
- Error analysis and propagation in lab reports
Synthesis and separation techniques
- Reflux and distillation setups
- Recrystallization and melting point determination
- Extraction and separatory funnel technique
- Thin-layer chromatography (TLC)
- Column chromatography for purification
- Vacuum filtration and rotary evaporation
- Drying agents and solvent removal
- Inert atmosphere techniques: Schlenk line (intro)
- Microscale vs macroscale apparatus
- Product isolation, drying, and yield calculation
Instrumental and analytical methods
- UV-Vis spectrophotometry operation
- FTIR sample preparation and spectral acquisition
- ¹H NMR sample preparation (where available)
- pH meter calibration and buffer preparation
- Gas chromatography sample injection (intro)
- HPLC basics and chromatogram interpretation
- Melting point apparatus and mixed melting points
- Polarimetry for chiral compounds (where covered)
- Conductivity measurements
- Data recording in digital laboratory notebooks
STEM / applied
Integrated laboratory projects
- Multi-step organic synthesis project
- Kinetics experiment: iodine clock or ester hydrolysis
- Equilibrium constant determination by spectrophotometry
- Acid-base titration curve analysis
- Synthesis and characterization of a coordination complex
- Water quality analysis field or bench project
- Green chemistry alternative experiment design
- Computational–experimental comparison project
- Group laboratory presentations
- Peer review of laboratory reports
Professional laboratory skills
- Writing formal laboratory reports: abstract through conclusion
- Graphing data with appropriate scales and error bars
- Literature search for experimental procedures
- Modifying published procedures for available resources
- Time management in multi-period experiments
- Troubleshooting failed reactions and purifications
- Laboratory inventory and reagent ordering
- Internship and research lab preparation
- Resume skills: techniques mastered in coursework
- Transition from teaching lab to research laboratory
Study units
Each unit includes a study guide, worksheets, review, practice test, and answer key. One unit is free; subscribe for the full class.
- Laboratory safety and ethics
Chemical hygiene plan and OSHA laboratory standards
Coming soon - Measurement and quantitative techniques
Significant figures and uncertainty in measurements
Coming soon - Synthesis and separation techniques
Reflux and distillation setups
Coming soon - Instrumental and analytical methods
UV-Vis spectrophotometry operation
Coming soon
Notes
May accompany general, organic, analytical, or integrated chemistry sequences. Topics reflect common undergraduate chemistry laboratory syllabi at US colleges and universities. Specific experiments vary widely by institution.