This interactive, chemistry focused booth will use a multimodality format to demonstrate how our chemists identify and make molecules! Visitors will learn why chirality and techniques like thin layer chromatography are so important in chemical research labs like ours. Participants will be able to smell samples of chiral molecules and guess which chiral molecule they are smelling. A poster and 3-D models of the chiral molecular structures and their significance will be on display. In addition, visitors will observe molecular movement using Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and see how molecules can be identified by the way they separate out using TLC. Finally, visitors will be able to use our LED touch screen interactive to access molecule games, molecular animations, and videos of our chemists solving real chemical queries in their labs. Our Scripps Research Institute and University of California - Irvine chemistry graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and research faculty members will share with booth visitors why their chemistry is so important for our daily lives, particularly for materials development (flexible cell phone technology, solar cell panels), medicinal & drug discovery, and in agrochemicals.
