To provide students with more and better higher-level skills and greater awareness of the real-world relevance of chemistry

To develop one of a broad range of C/PBL resources; to increase the number of C/PBL practitioners in HEIs

Resource: When your chewing gum loses its flavour!

RSC Roadmap Theme: Food

Level: Early undergraduate

A literature and web-based searching of the common flavouring chemicals and other ingredients used in chewing gum manufacture, use computer programmes to draw models of the chemicals and prepare documents summarising the properties, especially tastes and odours and possible health effects, of the ingredients. The aim of the exercise will be to fulfil several or all of the following objectives:

• Investigate what organic chemicals influence taste and odour
• Investigate how structural features of organic chemicals influence taste and odour
• Design an experiment to isolate identify unknown maltasting/malodourous chemicals in gum
• Investigate the structures of unknown chemicals via interpretation of mass spectra and other data

Increased awareness of C/PBL among HEI community;

Increased confidence with C/PBL and use of C/PBL within HEIs;

Graduates with improved higher-level skills