The Changing Face of Research: The Use of Chemical Information Skills to Identify Novel Research Areas

An experiment in teaching students to use the literature to devise and defend a plan for novel research is presented as part of a graduate-level course in heterocyclic chemistry. Students in three successive iterations of the course completed an assignment during which they were assigned novel heterocyclic cores that were selected by varying or relocating the heteroatoms of a known drug. They were then asked to identify potential research areas related to their assigned cores and to determine whether the structures containing these cores were likely to have practical applications. The students presented their results as though they were a collaborative research group in an industrial setting requesting funding for future research. A full description of the assignment and a summary of the student outcomes and ideas for future development are discussed.