Microscale Organic Laboratory: With Multistep and Multiscale Syntheses

by Dana W. Mayo, Ronald M. Pike, David C. Forbes

This is a laboratory text for the mainstream organic chemistry course taught at both two and four year schools, featuring both microscale experiments and options for scaling up appropriate experiments for use in the macroscale lab. It provides complete coverage of organic laboratory experiments and techniques with a strong emphasis on modern laboratory instrumentation, a sharp focus on safety in the lab, excellent pre- and post-lab exercises, and multi-step experiments. Notable enhancements to this new edition include inquiry-driven experimentation, validation of the purification process, and the implementation of greener processes (including microwave use) to perform traditional experimentation.

704 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Dana Walker Mayo, Bowdoin's Charles Weston Pickard Professor of Chemistry, inspired hundreds of students to pursue academic and professional careers in chemistry in his 25-plus years of teaching at the College.

Dana is an expert in the field of infrared spectroscopy, helping to establish an annual professional course on the subject at Bowdoin, and was a pioneer in the field of marine oil pollution. He has over 50 publications and two patents to his name.

He earned his bachelor's degree at MIT in 1952, after which he served in the U.S. Air Force. He then returned to his studies, earning his doctorate in organic chemistry at Indiana University in 1959. Prior to joining the Bowdoin faculty in 1962, Dana was a fellow at MIT's School of Advanced Study and a NIH postdoctoral fellow in the MIT chemistry department.

Dana was a leading pioneer in microscale organic chemistry, an innovative teaching technique that has revolutionized high school and college laboratory instruction around the world. It allows students to conduct a wide range of experiments in organic chemistry- all reduced in size 100 to 1,000 times. In 1985, he published the first textbook devoted to microscale, which he painstakingly developed with Bowdoin Chemistry Professor Emeritus Sam Butcher and a colleague collaborator from Merrimack College, Prof. Ronald Pike.

In 1988, the American Chemical Society presented Dana with an award for Outstanding Achievements in Teaching Chemistry. Dana and Sam Butcher also were among the first to receive the Charles A. Dana Foundation Awards in recognition of their achievement in microscale chemistry.

Dana and Sam were awarded the Bowdoin Prize in 1990 for outstanding contributions in their professional fields. It was the first time the prize was given to faculty members who were not also Bowdoin alumni.