Traditional organic laboratory experiments are commonly a series of cookbook procedures that requires little or no engagement on the part of the students. POGIL, open inquiry-based, question-driven laboratories have addressed many of the issues with cookbook chemistry. We would like to present another model, literature-based experiments. “In the Laboratory” was our inspiration and resource for this new laboratory model. Students are provided with a list of articles and are expected to choose an experiment, read and interpret the article, develop an experimental procedure, reproduce the experiment and explain their results. This avenue gives the students a wide range of experiments to select from covering various organic topics within laboratory guidelines. Student use formal reports based on the ACS Style Guide for scientific paper to communicate their results.

1. New Model for Organic Laboratory Dell Jensen, Ph.D. Richard Narske, Ph.D.

2. Commentary - The Problem with Organic Chemistry Labs by Jerry R. Mohrig Mohrig, Jerry R. J. Chem. Educ. 2004 81 1083. How to extract knowledge from experimental results is at the heart of science, yet for the most part we don’t attempt to teach this skill in traditional labs.

4. Commentary - The Problem with Organic Chemistry Labs by Jerry R. Mohrig Mohrig, Jerry R. J. Chem. Educ. 2004 81 1083. How to extract knowledge from experimental results is at the heart of science, yet for the most part we don’t attempt to teach this skill in traditional labs. “ What we need is to bring thinking about experimental chemistry back into our introductory organic chemistry labs”

12. Choose an Experiment Complete one of the following three separation experiments (only 6 student per experiment per lab section) Exp. 1: Distillation of a Three Component Mixture Craig J. Donahue; "Fractional Distillation and GC Analysis of Hydrocarbon Mixtures." J. Chem. Ed. , 79 , 2002 , 721-723. Exp. 2: Isolation of Rubber L. Volaric and J. Hagen; "The Isolation of Rubber from Milkweed Leaves"; J. Chem. Ed. , 79 , 2002 , 91-93. Exp. 3: Extraction of Chlorophyll from Spinach Leaves Quach, Hao T.; Steeper, Robert L.; Griffin, G. William; “An Improved Method for the Extraction and Thin-Layer Chromatography of Chlorophyll a and b from Spinach“ J. Chem. Educ., 81 , 2004 385.