Food for Thought: Analysis of Photosynthetic Pigments in the General Chemistry Laboratory

Given the rise of biology and biochemistry majors in general chemistry courses, it is beneficial to introduce topics that demonstrate the interconnectedness of these sciences with chemistry. Therefore, the use of photosynthetic pigments not only appeals to students with an interest in the biological sciences but also creates an approachable experiment for understanding their role in energy transfer. Localizing our focus on select fruits and vegetables, students are provided the opportunity to extract their pigments and study them spectrophotometrically. This allows students to understand how they can contribute to photosynthesis and the relation between their color and their photochemical properties. Survey and course data indicates the experiment is not only more approachable by using food and mild chemicals, but contributes to increased knowledge retention for topics associated to electronic structure. Additionally, the experiment introduces students to basic but integral separation techniques and utilizes visual indications. In this paper, the methodology of the experiment and impacts on student academics will be presented and further described.