Synthesis and Characterization of Acetaminophen: An Experimental and Theoretical Laboratory for the Undergraduate Curriculum

Computational chemistry techniques are used along with spectroscopy to characterize acetaminophen synthesized in an undergraduate chemistry laboratory experiment. The inclusion of electronic structure calculations to provide infrared and Raman spectra in the synthesis and characterization of acetaminophen connects over-the-counter medications with which students are familiar to the experience of producing and characterizing a compound, and the growing role of computational chemistry in the chemical enterprise. The visualization of molecular motions associate with the absorption frequencies enhanced the understanding of the spectroscopic techniques.