CH331  Organic Chemistry

Project Fall 2009

Green Chemistry:  An Introduction

Who does this assignment?  Any student enrolled in CH331, Organic Chemistry for upper division credit.

What materials do you need?  All background materials can be accessed from the web. 

What form does the project take?  A carefully written research paper of 3-4 pages. 

What is the topic?  You will research and write a paper about a Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award winner.  To do this well you will first need to familiarize yourself with Green Chemistry.  Then you will need to select an award-winning project that incorporates some organic chemistry into the project.  You will want to select something you can describe to some degree, but you may not be able to completely understand the project.

Where can these Award Winners and general information on Green Chemistry be found? 

The best resources I know of are these:

http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_chemistry

These web pages will get you started and will provide additional links.  The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award winners are listed at the EPA web site. 

What constitutes a good paper?  What will get me an excellent grade?  I’ll post a rubric soon that should guide you as you write.  You may use it to guide your efforts to make sure you are providing me with adequate detail, good sources, etc..  Any specific questions about writing can be brought to me or to the writing lab at the CAP center. 

 The rubric can be found here.

When is the project due?  The final Tuesday of regular classes, which is December 1.

Can I turn it in electronically?  Yes.  If you do this expect the paper to be returned to you electronically as well.  Acceptable formats are Word and OpenOffice.  I will not be able to reply to your electronic submission, since I expect to receive a lot of papers in the final few hours before they are due.