H.* “Upper Secondary School and University Level Students’ Perceptions of Extractions in Context: Experiences from a Simple Laboratory Experiment”, ChemRxiv preprint, 2021.This post is sponsored by GIANT Food Stores. However, emotions play a key role in science education and should be taken into account when planning, executing and evaluating truly inclusive higher education. Oftentimes sciences are seen as cold and separate from emotions. The same underlying physics, quantum mechanics and thermodynamics, governs all of chemistry.Īs for learning theories and pedagogy, we are studying the effects of emotions on learning science. Chemistry concepts should not be divided into separate categories such as physical, inorganic, organic or analytical, but rather they should be unified to form a coherent body of information. We are also interested in providing university level students with a comprehensive understanding of chemistry. We want to help kids who are interested in science get the support they need to become the next generation of scientist and engineers. Outside of organic chemistry research one of our main efforts in chemistry education is aimed at helping and encouraging kids interested who are interested in science. Kürti, L.* “Organocatalytic nitrogen-transfer to unactivated olefins via transient oxaziridines”, Nature Catalysis 2020, 3, 386. M.* Papai, I.* “Conformationally Locked Pyramidality Explains the Methylation Stereochemistry of trans-Fused Butyrolactones”, Org. In particular, we are focused on applying intrinsic bonding orbitals (IBOs) in combination with minimum energy pathway finding methods as tools to understand the inner workings of chemical reactions. For studying energy landscapes a breadth of tools, including NEB and GSM are used. Main quantum-chemistry tools used are Gaussian, xTB, crest, ORCA, Molcas, NCIplot and IboView. In addition, we are heavily involved in studying reaction mechanisms using theoretical methods. How can we mathematically represent organic synthesis and what insights does this give us? We are developing algorithms, data structures and mathematical representations, especially those based on graph theory, to provide new ways of looking at organic synthesis. Kürti, L.* “Total Synthesis of Isatindigotindoline C”, Org. H.* “Total Synthesis of (±)-Setigerumine I: Biosynthetic Origins of the Elusive Racemic Papaveracaea Isoxazolidine Alkaloids”, Angew. In particular, we are interested in the synthesis and biochemistry of structurally unique racemic alkaloids. To foster new synthetic ideas and to truly acid-test the limitations of current chemistry, we are pursuing the development of ideal syntheses for polycylic alkaloids. This is why we are interested in the development of reliable bench-stable reagents, and spot-to-spot open-flask synthetic methods. Organic synthetic reactions should be readily accessible to the entire scientific community, allowing people to easily make the molecules they need. In the long run, we hope such an approach of combining synthesis with computational tools on a fundamental level will provide chemists with reliable tools for a-priori prediction even in the realm of dauntingly complex natural product syntheses. With deeper understanding of the underlying regio- and stereoselectivity elements comes greater control over the chemistry at hand. The overarching theme in all of our research efforts is the fundamental physical understanding of the chemical processes involved. Our work is largely driven by inspiration drawn from polycylic alkaloid natural products which are used as platforms for synthetic strategy design, development of new synthetic methods, and the study of mechanistically intriguing processes. The ETOS group operates at the interface between experimental and theoretical organic synthesis.