JCE Online Journal of Chemical EducationDivision of Chemical Education, American Chemical SocietyAmerican Chemical Society
 | Subscriptions  | Software Orders  | Support  | Contributors  | Advertisers  | 

JCE Print
   Current Issue
 Previous Issues
 Supplements
 Search JCE Index

JCE Digital Library
   JCE DLib Catalog
   ChemInfo
 Data-Driven Exercises
 DigiDemos
 Featured Molecules
 LivTexts
 LrnCom
 QBank
 SymMath
 WebWare

JCE Software
   Latest Releases
 Software & Video
 Downloads
 Support

Only@JCE Online
   JCE Online Store
 JCE HS CLIC
 JCE Discussion Forums
   Biographical Snapshots
 ChemEd Resource Shelf
 Hal's Picks
 Project Chemlab
 Reviewed WWW Sites
 "Web-Ed" Articles

About JCE
   Features
 Publications
 Operations
 Outreach
 Contact Us


  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2008  > December  >
On the Web
Synthesis Explorer: A Chemical Reaction Tutorial System for Organic Synthesis Design and Mechanism Prediction
Jonathan H. Chen and Pierre Baldi
Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics and Department of Computer Science, School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697
Cover
December 2008
Vol. 85 No. 12
p. 1699
Abstract
Synthesis Explorer is an interactive tutorial system for organic chemistry that enables students to learn chemical reactions in ways previously unrealized. Accessible online through a user-friendly Web interface, Synthesis Explorer delivers a rich learning experience including dynamic generation of customized multi-step synthesis design and mechanism prediction problems; context-specific feedback; and support for inquiry-based learning through experimentation and interactive dialogue with the system. The system is founded upon a reaction expert system based on over 80 reagent models and 1500 manually-composed reaction patterns, representing the undergraduate organic chemistry curriculum. These reaction models confer the system inherent predictive powers enabling it to generate a virtually limitless number of problems and to answer common questions of reactivity, including the inference of complete arrow-pushing mechanisms. Pedagogical experiments in undergraduate classes at UC Irvine indicate that the system can improve average student examination performance by ~10%.
Supplement
Description of the reagent models, single-step reaction drills, and structure details; User feedback and survey statistics; Implementation details
*
 Download
Contents
  JCE2008p1699W.pdf
 
JCE2008p1699W.zip
JCE2008p1699W.doc (Microsoft Word)
 
More Information
*
Citation
Chen, Jonathan H.; Baldi, Pierre. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85, 1699.
*
Keywords
Chemical Education Research; Chemoinformatics; Computer-Based Learning; Curriculum; Distance Learning / Self Instruction; Inquiry-Based / Discovery Learning; Internet / Web-Based Learning; Mechanisms of Reactions; Organic Chemistry; Problem Solving / Decision Making; Reactions; Second-Year Undergraduate; Synthesis; Testing / Assessment; Upper-Division Undergraduate
*
History
Created:
Last Updated:
10/24/2008
11/7/2008
<< Previous Article Table of Contents Next Article >>
  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2008  > December  > Page 1699


Subscriptions
 Subscription Info
 Order Forms

JCE HS CLIC

Our Secondary School editors work hard to distill all the JCE materials to produce a fraction of particular interest to high school teachers. We call it CLIC.
 JCE HS CLIC

Contributions Welcome
JCE welcomes your submission
 Contributors' Corner

Advertisers
In recent years we have worked hard to better match our advertisers with our readers. When shopping for chemistry education materials, visit our advertisers' WWW sites first.
 Recent Advertisers

Be An Ambassador
Take JCE along on your outreach missions. Copies of the Journal, guest access to JCE Online, our publications catalog, and more are available for your participants.
 Outreach with JCE

Comments to
jceonline@chem.wisc.edu		 Copyright © Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society.
All rights reserved.