From the American Chemical Society:  "To celebrate National Chemistry Week (NCW) 2000, volunteers nationwide will engage thousands of individuals in activities and events to help society better understand the nature and importance of chemistry.  This year´s theme, "Kitchen Chemistry", offers many opportunities to explain the connections between chemistry and cooking."

To get into the spirit of NCW, this year's Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry class will focus on the main ingredient of various foods and food additives.  Each page will highlight the chemical formula and structure as well as add information concerning the use(s) of the food or food additive.  Click on each link below to find out about the particular compounds found in the foods you eat.
 
 

Food/ Additive:	Compound:	Page prepared by:
Alcohol	Ethanol	Trent Franks
Baking Soda	Sodium Bicarbonate	Andrea Minor
Chocolate	Theobromine	Josh Tackett
Cinnamon	Cinnamaldehyde	Dr. Draganjac
Coffee	Caffeine	Kimberley Dickey
Egg rolls	Monosodium Glutamate	Trent Franks
Fructose	Levulose	Jeremy Boling
Garlic	Allyl Sulfide	Amy Bloodworth
Grape Flavor	Methyl Anthranilate	David Clarke
Hot Peppers	Capsaicin	Amy Bloodworth
Lemonade	Citral	David Clarke
NutraSweet	Aspartame	Josh Tackett
Olives	Oleic Acid	Emily Rickman
Oranges	Citric Acid	Heidi Steyer
Preservative	Sodium Benzoate	Emily Rickman
Red Wine	Tyramine	Jan Annaratone
Salt	Potassium Iodide	Heidi Steyer
Salt	Sodium Chloride	Andrea Minor
Soft Drinks	Phosphoric Acid	Jan Annaratone
Spinach	Folic Acid, Vitamin B9	Jeremy Boling
Spring Water	Water	Kimberley Dickey
Sugar	Sucrose	Ranjini Murthy
Vanilla	Vanillic Acid, Vanillin	Dr. Draganjac
Vegetable Oil	Fatty Acids	Ranjini Murthy
Vitamin A	Retinol	Alana Maxum
Vitamin C	Ascorbic Acid	Alana Maxum