Looking for cool organic chemistry experiments to use in class

How about glow-stick chemistry? A chemiluminescence experiment would be fairly simple to execute, relatively safe, and at the same time interesting, spectacular, and relatable.

Some resources:

[1] https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/10/14/glowsticks/

[2] J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94(10), 1580-1583 (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00194)

Quote from:

How about glow-stick chemistry? A chemiluminescence experiment would be fairly simple to execute, relatively safe, and at the same time interesting, spectacular, and relatable.

Some resources:

[1] https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/10/14/glowsticks/

[2] J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94(10), 1580-1583 (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00194)

Thank you that's a great idea, I'll look into it some more

Luminol is always a hit.

https://edu.rsc.org/resources/chemiluminescence-of-luminol-a-cold-light-experiment/823.article

Less spectacular than the brilliant ideas above, but connected to daily life:

Make biodiesel from palm oil. Saponify, separate, esterify, separate. Ask someone else for the details. You can replace dangerous methanol with a bigger alcohol.

Or simpler: make soap from grease or oil.

Or make biodiesel from soap. Fewer steps.

Distill "crude oil" to white spirit, Diesel oil and lubricants. You previously mix the "crude oil" from this commercial ware. Have a fire extinguisher at hand.

Distill resin into turpentine and rosin.

Bleach coloured molecules with some oxidizer: hypochlorite, percarbonate, hydrogen peroxide... against varied dyes, natural and artificial, organic and not.

Pyrolyse "plastic waste" to fuels. Be absolutely sure your plastic is a polyolefine (one single part, floats on water, burns with candle odour. Then make chips of it), since others emit toxic gases.

Experiment around flash points. Try to ignite gasoline, Diesel oil, turpentine, wax... at room temperature and at heat, or with a wick.

Make a polymer. Polyamids are easy.

Make a glue from an elastomer or polymer in a solvent.

You can have a few grams of pottasiumpermanganate and add ca 1ml glycerol, this will catch fire after a minute or so.
I think you can find more on youtube.

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Do you want a synthesis type lab (making something) or something colorful?

Actually it doesn't matter, it's better for it to connect to our everyday lives in some way.

Do you want a synthesis type lab (making something) or something colorful?

Azo dyes have a neat bit of history, they were the first real antibiotics (aka sulpha drugs) in the form of azo sulfonamides. Trade name prontosil was the very first. One material of this class is still used for UTIs.

we made azo dyes in a test tube in our A level class at school, the pretty colours makes for quite a cool experiment. it is also a very educational experiment.