The relationship between scientific theory, experiment and computational technology is the main issue in the research fields of philosophy of science and science education. The previous studies focused more on physics and biology to investigate the relationship, while the scientific practice in chemistry was overlooked. Taking Elias James Corey’s research and teaching practice as an example, this article analysis his scientific thinking and the reason why his computer program was not accepted as widely as his method of retrosynthetic analysis. It reveals that Corey made the methods and rules for synthesis understandable and reasonable to scientific community from his teaching and experimental practice. Based on his experimental work and thinking backward, Corey conceptualized and abstracted the rules for retrosynthetic analysis. However, computer-aid or artificial intelligent design can help to solve synthetic problems only when hardware and software interact deeply with theoretical organic chemistry and chemists’ experience.

Microemulsions are uniformly homogeneous and transparent, isotropic dispersions formed by two mutually immiscible liquids and surfactants (usually with the addition of co-surfactants). Microemulsions with small particle size and thermodynamic stability play an important role in the field of organic synthesis, nanomaterial synthesis, drug delivery, extraction separation and so on. CO₂/N₂ stimuli-responsive microemulsion refers to a kind of smart microemulsion which can be demulsified/re-emulsified under the trigger of CO₂ and N₂. As CO₂ gas is easy to get, green and environmentally friendly, and unlike the traditional pH response which will cause salt accumulation in the system, for which it has caused widespread interest. Based on the CO₂ stimuli-responsive microemulsion, this paper summarizes the latest research progress of surfactant-based and surfactant-free microemulsion systems, including their phase behavior, structures, properties and potential applications,and prospects its development future.

Based on the ascertainment and nomenclature of the parent hydride, the general steps of the substitutive nomenclature which is most commonly used in the nomenclature of organic compounds are summarized, and various sequence rules are also clarified.

This paper introduces in detail the reform of the online and offline course of analytical chemistry integrated with ideological and political education, carried out by the analytical chemistry teaching team of Shaoguan University. The difficulties encountered in the process and their solutions are also dealt with. Based on our ideological and political education data bank and micro courses together with the advantages of online and offline platforms, we have integrated ideological and political education into pre-class, in-class and after-class activities to build a new teaching system that organically combines professional education with ideological and political education, online and offline teaching, process assessment and goal evaluation.

In order to meet the urgent demand for high-quality talents in chemistry in western China, improve the teaching quality to meet the continuous development of education in the new era, and realize the integration and mutual promotion of professional education and ideological and political education, Guangxi Normal University has been deepening educational reform in organic chemistry teaching, and deepening exploration and practice of ideological and political education while improving teaching level. Course teaching is based on “the basis of educating people and the priority of ethical education” idea. It integrates ideological and political education with organic chemistry teaching by constructing an ideological and political resource library, deeply integrating modern information technology with ideological and political teaching, and carrying out special activities, helping students to establish a correct outlook on life and values, cultivating students’ patriotism, sense of social responsibility, innovative spirit and practical ability, etc.

Integrating critical thinking education into higher education curriculum system is a necessary way to cultivate innovative talents, which can realize innovative development and build a powerful modern country. In this study, the concept and the connotation as well as the development history of critical thinking were elaborated first, then the similarities and differences in the critical thinking training systems between China and USA were further analyzed. Moreover, based on the training appeal of engineering knowledge, engineering ability and engineering quality, “physical chemistry” was taken as a course example to expound the teaching modes and strategies of integration between critical thinking training and classroom teaching. It focused on the questions, reasoning and argumentation, situational analysis and practice development based on the theory of “FRISCO”. What’s more, the diversified evaluation indicators for critical thinking training was also established. It helps the formation and development of students’ critical thinking in foundation courses of higher education.

Polymer chemistry focuses on synthesis and chemical reaction of polymers, and the philosophical relationship between quantitative and qualitative change runs throughout it. The relationship between quantitative and qualitative change is discussed. The molecular weight, degree of polymerization, condensation and thermal transformation, condensation polymerization, radical polymerization, radical copolymerization, emulsion polymerization are involved, and the typical cases are selected to be analyzed. The philosophical principles of quantitative change and qualitative change are expounds by the leap from quantitative change to qualitative change, the mutual transformation and infiltration of quantitative change and qualitative change, the retroaction of of qualitative change to quantitative change, and the guides of philosophy theory to practice.

Based on the orientation of “great power quality ”coupled with the professional knowledge of analytical chemistry, the construction of curriculum ideological and political of analytical chemistry has been explored and practiced. The construction was realized by creating high-quality analytical chemistry course as the carrier, constructing high-quality curriculum ideological and political cases and innovating the implementation of curriculum ideological and political. As a result, the goal of collaborative education of value guidance, ability cultivation and knowledge transfer were achieved.

The preparation of acetylsalicylic acid is a classic organic experiment set up in many universities, but there are some problems in the experiment process, such as unstable results, low yield, and difficult precipitation of crude products due to the formation of oily substances. This study emphasized on improving the hydrolysis methods of acetic anhydride, and optimized the reaction conditions such as reaction temperature, reaction time, product testing and so on. The optimized experimental programs gave the stable and reproducible results, and the yield rate is over 70%. The reaction process of the product and by-product were analysized in theory which help students in-depth understanding the reaction principle. Teaching design contained organic chemistry theoretical knowledge and experimental research findings, which can cultivate effectively scientific thought of combining theory with practice and comprehensive abilities of solving practical problems.

The main active components of Arnebia euchroma, a common Chinese herbal medicine, are naphthoquinone compounds, which have various pharmacological effects. This research on the extraction process of arnebia euchroma materials is introduced into the organic chemistry experiment course. Two variable parameters of extraction solvent ratio and extraction time were studied. Students design and conduct experiments by themselves. The experiment comprehensively uses the basic operations of organic chemistry and analytical chemistry experiments. At the same time, this experience enhances students’ study interests and experimental design, data processing and analysis.

To complete the undergraduate experience of the organic chemistry majors, we need an effective laboratory course in which students are exposed to modern techniques and analytical thinking in the design of experiments. However, undergraduate students are rarely educated about multicomponent synthesis in the current experimental teaching environment. In 2022, we have offered a new student experiment, “a three-component reaction under operationally-simple solvent-free conditions”, which has been developed and implemented in organic chemistry laboratory course for second-year undergraduate students. In this experiment, commercially available, inexpensive reagents, such as p-methylbenzaldehyde, N-methylindole and 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione were used as the reaction substrates, and the rapid sequential action of multiple components in a single reaction flask was creatively achieved to obtain the target product. Notable features of this teaching experiment include multicomponent synthesis and good operability, inexpensive reagents, the absence of catalyst and solvents, and high yield and atomic economy.

Curriculum ideological and political education is one of the important contents for the implementation of chemistry curriculum and teaching theory to cultivate morality. The paper is based on the characteristics of chemistry curriculum and teaching theory curriculum, which is theoretical, practical and teacher-trained, explores the practice of curriculum ideology and politics from four aspects: designing curriculum objectives, mining curriculum ideological and political elements, building curriculum ideological and political teaching case base, and improving teachers’ curriculum ideological and political ability, and explores the teaching achievement evaluation of course ideology and politics from two aspects: student evaluation and course performance assessment. It is expected to provide a reference for the construction of the ideological and political system of the chemistry (normal) major.

Combining nanomaterials, electrochemical sensing technology and the content determination of the active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine, an innovative experiment was set up for the students of traditional Chinese medicine. The contents of the experiment include the fabrication of sensors, performance testing, optimization of experimental conditions, separation and extraction of active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine, covering a complete sample analysis process. This experiments involved the disciplines of inorganic chemistry, analytical chemistry, instrumental analysis and physical chemistry, with strong comprehensiveness. The experiment contains many processes, such as literature research, experimental plan design, exploration of electrochemical performance of sensors. Furthermore, the application of the single factor method in the experimental condition selection, the drawing of standard curve and the evaluation of the method accuracy by the recovery experiment were also involved. These processes enable students to closely combine theory and practice, explore scientific frontier, stimulate professional interest and self-confidence. Meanwhile, these processes help to cultivate students’ innovative thinking and enthusiasm for scientific research, and improve students’ practical application ability of knowledge.

From the actual combat of public security, the importance of chemical knowledge in combating drug crimes can be seen. Therefore, a basic elective course of drugs and chemistry has been developed and constructed for students majoring in public security. Based on actual needs, we have chosen to highly integrate relevant chemical and drug knowledge, developed teaching content for 8 special topics, and timely integrated corresponding ideological and political elements. Based on teaching needs and with the goal of improving students’ professional literacy, on the basis of analyzing the learning situation, we fully pay attention to students’ personalities and interests, adopt the “3+2” teaching mode and flexible and diverse teaching methods, implement personalized teaching, and establish a diverse and objective assessment and evaluation system. This course has been welcomed by students and achieved good teaching results.

This article outlines the teaching design and thinking of “optical isomerism” in the course medical organic chemistry. We adopt a problem-oriented instructional design and connect several knowledge points such as the concept of enantiomers, Fisher projection, R/S, and D/L configuration by asking and solving problems. At the same time, the model demonstration and the medical cases are carried through the teaching mode of the entire problem-oriented process, the basic concepts are sorted out, the key and difficult points are summarized, and the progress is made step by step. The results of the questionnaire survey showed that more than 85% of the students can improve their interest in learning through the problem-oriented teaching method. This kind of teaching design could give full play to the subjective initiative of the students, master the basic theories and core concepts of this chapter within the limited class hours and achieve teaching objectives.

Basic chemistry is one of the most important general foundation courses for medical and related majors. In order to solve teaching problems, such as abstruse teaching contents, differences between students’ backgrounds and a lack of interactive communications between teachers and students, a student-centered blended teaching mode was constructed in the course of basic chemistry with the help of Rain Classroom intelligent teaching tools. Under the teaching concept of knowledge transmission, ability cultivation and value guidance, practical results indicated that this mode had an obvious success in generating excellent teaching performances and inspiring the initiative of students, including optimizing teaching strategies, providing multi-dimensional form of contents, meeting the individual requirements from students, constructing diversity communications between students and teachers, and integrating ideological and political educations in the course.

To improve the specified training mode for professional postgraduates, School of Chemical and Materials Engineering at Jiangnan University has summarized the experience conscientiously, and proposed some effective ways to develop the professional teaching staff, subjects of curricula and creative practice. The results of improvement have demonstrated through a questionnaire survey, which is answered by the students in the year of 2016-2020. It is found that students’ satisfaction levels with their curricula, tutor, scientific training and practical courses are greater than 90 percent. Based on the feedbacks from students, some measures have been taken to further improve the quality of training. The present study provides a useful reference to the training mode of professional postgraduates.

Three means are discussed and summarized for quantitative analysis of chemical equilibrium, namely chemical property, mathematical proof, and instance verification. These means are seen in most textbooks of analytical chemistry, but seldom introduced systematically. In this paper, the three means are thoroughly discussed and compared with respect to difficulty of implementation, richness of information, and rigorousness of conclusion. Four examples are used to illustrate the three means, including endpoints of titration jump, and feasibility of titration. It is noteworthy that the three means are not limited to quantitative analysis of chemical equilibrium; instead they represent universal solutions that benefit undergraduates in establishing scientific thinking and logic reasoning.

Laboratory safety is the principal issue of laboratory management in universities. This paper reports the current situation and existing problems of chemistry laboratory safety management in domestic universities and National University of Singapore. By learning from the current laboratory safety management methods of National University of Singapore and combining specific domestic conditions, several improvement suggestions were summarized, including the establishment of the professional laboratory safety and health management agencies, improving the practicality of risk management, and increasing the cultivation of safety culture. It is expected to provide some help in promoting chemistry laboratory safety in domestic universities.

As the first element of halogens, fluorine is widely used in pesticides, medicine, atomic energy, rocket technology, petroleum refining and so on. It plays an irreplaceable role in many fields of production and life of human society. This paper mainly introduced the first preparation of fluorine and discovery in nature, so as to popularize and update some knowledge of fluorine chemistry. The description of typical events of fluorine was to reflect the application of philosophy and scientific research methods in chemistry.