BACKGROUND

Chemistry and chemicals are everywhere, the air we breathe is a mixture of chemicals, the food we eat is a mixture of chemicals, and the products we use are mixtures of chemicals. This assignment was designed to help you review some of the chemistry you learned during CEM 251, to practice some new chemistry you should learn in CEM 252 and to develop the following skills:

• Cooperation and teamwork
• Finding information in subjects outside your area of expertise
• Informed consumerism
• Computer use
• Time management

PROJECT SCORING

This group project is worth 100 pts - the same as a regular examination. Half of these points (50) will be based on the quality of the final project. The entire group will receive the same number of points for the quality of the final project. The remaining 50 points will be an individual score reflecting your contribution to the overall project. Each member of your group will assess the contribution each person made to the overall project. These assessments will be examined and any assessment which differs greatly from the remaining assessments will be treated as an outlier and will not be used in scoring individual contributions. If assessments from all group members vary widely, discrepancies may be resolved by individual conferences with an instructor.

PROJECT SCORING JUSTIFICATION

It is understood that working on a group project may result in some students assuming the majority of the workload. It is possible that a student could achieve a score of 50 points on this project without contributing in any way to the product of the group. This is unfortunate, however, this exercise is meant to provide practice in cooperation and teamwork. Your group should undertake the challenge of working with one another to insure that every member of the group has the opportunity to contribute. Your group should also attempt to support and encourage one another to exert a fair level of effort. Leadership skills are invaluable and being able to motivate co-workers to contribute appropriate efforts is an important skill. The evaluations of individual contributions will provide each member of the group the opportunity to commend any individual who demonstrates that ability to motivate the group or to organize the efforts of group members. Individual scores will reflect a wide range of contributions including report content, group leadership, group motivation and organization or recordkeeping.

PROJECT TIMELINE

Deadline for choosing to complete the group project: 1/13/97

Deadline for group selection: 1/17/97

Deadline for label selection: 1/17/97

Suggested deadline for group division of labor: 1/20/97

Suggested group evaluation of progress: weeks of 1/20 and 1/27

Suggested deadline for data collection: 1/31/97

Poster Presentation: 2/3/97

THE ASSIGNMENT

1. Select a consumer product from one of the following categories:
   • Automotive products (antifreeze, motor oil, gasoline additives...)
   • Personal Care/Beauty products (hairspray, shampoo, soap...)
   • Health products (painkillers, cough medicines, chapped lip remedies...)
   • Foods (spaghetti, cereal, juice...)
2. Make sure the label provides chemical names for most ingredients - most likely to be a problem with food labelling (flour is not a chemical name).
3. Select 1 organic chemical from the label for each group member. (3 member groups will choose 3 chemicals, 4 member groups should choose four and so on).
4. Determine the structure of the chemicals - possible reference materials:
   • The Merck Index
   • Aldrich Catalog - Handbook of Fine Chemicals
   • The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
   • The World Wide Web
   • Your Textbook
5. Determine the mass of the molecular ion and propose other fragments or a fragmentation pattern likely to appear in the mass spectrum for each chemical.
6. Identify the functional groups in each chemical and indicate the frequency at which that functional group would appear in an infra-red spectrum.
7. Identify groups of equivalent hydrogens, indicate their expected chemical shift and splitting pattern in a proton-NMR spectrum for each chemical
8. Include photocopies or printouts of reference spectral data if possible. Possible reference materials:
   • The World Wide Web
   • Sadtler Spectral Library
   • Aldrich Spectral Library
9. Determine the toxicity of each chemical. LD₅₀ may be used to indicate acute toxicity, but other known hazards (carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, teratogenicity...) should be included also. Possible reference materials:
   • The Merck Index
   • Materials Safety Data Sheets - MSDS's
   • The World Wide Web (search for MSDS - Materials Safety Data Sheet)
10. Propose the function of the chemicals in the product. Possible reference materials:
    • The Merck Index
11. Compile a poster for an poster session on chemistry in consumer products to be held during the time scheduled for the first hour exam. Your group will attend the poster and discuss your findings with instructors and other students at the poster session. This format is very commonly seen in all fields of science as a means to share information with other researchers. Your poster should include:
    • The product label (or a legible photocopy of the label)
    • Names and structures of the organic chemicals selected by your group
    • Spectral information about each chemical
    • A photocopy or printout of available reference spectra for each chemical
    • The proposed function of the chemicals in the product
12. Turn in your poster (which should break down to sheets no larger than 9" by 12") and evaluations of each group member by each group member.

Evaluator Name: (this will be seen only by instructors)

Group Member Evaluated:

1. Evaluate this group member's willingness to assume a share of the workload.