The study of molecular asymmetry is being incorporated into the laboratory curriculum at four different levels: in the first semester introductory organic laboratory, students resolve optical isomers and prove chirality and measure optical purity using a polarimeter; during the second semester they synthesize secondary alcohols in enantiomeric excess and determine the isomeric ratios; in the advanced instrumental laboratories, enantiomers are resolved on a chiral HPLC column using the polarimeter as an HPLC detector; the chiral synthesis of (+)- disparlure, the Gypsy moth pheromone, is performed in an advanced organic laboratory. This equipment is also significantly enhancing undergraduate research in chiral synthesis.
