Lecture demonstrations role

A few historical data are interesting to recall in order to show the role of serendipity in this field. Among the re-electron-excessive five-membered heteroaromatics with one heteroatom (CR)4X, thiophene has physico-chemical properties so similar to those of benzene that until 1882/3 it stayed hidden as an impurity in the benzene obtained from coal tar. Then Victor Meyer discovered it serendipitously at what is nowadays the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, during a lecture demonstration by the assistant Traugott Sandmeyer in front of undergraduates. It was believed at that time that the deep blue color produced by heating benzene with isatin and concentrated sulfuric acid (the... 

The aim of the series is to present the latest fundamental material for research chemists, lecturers and students across the breadth of the subject, reaching into the various applications of theoretical techniques and modelling. The series concentrates on teaching the fundamentals of chemical structure, symmetry, bonding, reactivity, reaction mechanism, solid-state chemistry and applications in molecular modelling. It will emphasize the transfer of theoretical ideas and results to practical situations so as to demonstrate the role of theory in the solution of chemical problems in the laboratory and in industry. 

This synthesis also gives a small glimpse at the chemistry of heterocyclic compounds. Most active compounds in today s pharmaceuticals or agrochemicals include heterocycles, as well as most vitamins and natural products. The chemistry of heterocycles is thus very important and lectures or textbooks should be consulted.6 Formation of amide bonds also plays a large role in this problem. It was demonstrated that the strong amide bond can be formed from an amine and a carboxylic acid only after the acid has been activated. This can be done by transformation into the carboxylic halide or imidazolide or by application of an activating agent developed for peptide synthesis. 

A thermodynamic course in which the chemical potential was introduced in the manner described was first proposed in 1972 by G. Job [1—4], Since then, the approach has been successfully applied in introductory lectures in thermodynamics at the Universities of Hamburg and Karlsruhe, Germany. It was also adopted in H.U. Fuchs textbook The Dynamics of Heat [5]. Because of the elementary intuitive interpretation of the quantity the concept can be easily adapted to all levels of education. It is already a part of textbooks for schools in Germany [6] and Switzerland [7]. It also plays an important role in the textbook Physical Chemistry - An Introduction with New Concept and Numerous Experiments [8] for undergraduates now in preparation. For strengthening of the understanding theory is complemented by more than a hundred illustrative, simple and safe demonstration experiments. 

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