Up the Garden Path: A Chemical Trail through the Cambridge University Botanic Garden

作者：Battle Gary M^*; Kyd Gwenda O; Groom Colin R; Allen Frank H; Day Juliet; Upson Timothy

来源：Journal of Chemical Education, 2012, 89(11): 1390-1394.

DOI：10.1021/ed300065s

• General Public
• High School/Introductory Chemistry
• First-Year Undergraduate/General
• Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary
• Public Understanding/Outreach
• Internet/Web-Based Learning
• Plant Chemistry
• X-ray Crystallography

The living world is a rich source of chemicals with many medicines, dyes, flavorings, and foodstuffs having their origins in compounds produced by plants. We describe a chemical trail through the plant holdings of the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens. Visitors to the gardens are provided with a laminated trail guide with 22 stopping points marked on a map. For each of the 22 familiar plants, the principal chemical component(s) and their applications are identified. The virtual trail on the gardens Web site provides additional chemical information including links to the experimentally determined three-dimensional structures of the molecules from the Cambridge Structural Database. Visitors to the gardens with quick response (QR) code readers on their mobile phones will also be able to access this enhanced chemical information digitally. Our hope is that the trails (actual and virtual) will take advantage of students inherent interest in the chemistry of the natural world and encourage them to learn more about the myriad of vital chemicals that are available in the plant kingdom.

• 出版日期2012-11