Helping students appreciate the everyday contexts in which the chemistry they study is important helps enrich their experience and makes the study of the topic more interesting. The articles below explore some important applications of partition equilibria in agriculture, food science and medicine.

Pesticides – keeping one step ahead

Tony Hargreaves describes the development of synthetic organic pesticides and tells us what they are and how they work.

Sonochemistry – beyond synthesis

Ultrasound is used to form and collapse microbubbles at the interface between immiscible liquids and is used in the production of blended foodstuffs such as tomato sauce and to extract useful materials from natural products such as antioxidants from rosemary.

Super-dipoles linked to chloroform's outstanding solvent properties

Chloroform's ability to extract natural products from plant materials has been linked to the formation of 'super-dipoles'. The search is now on for new solvents with similar properties.

Time for tea

David Jones discusses how to make the perfect cup of tea.

Espresso maker brews up tasty extraction

Coffee machines could become essential pieces of lab kit for extracting chemicals from plants.

Faster acting drugs

Ionic liquid drugs can pass through the skin and may open up the way to more effective medicines.

Breaking the rules

A partition coefficient log P (a measure of lipophilicity) of less than 5 is one of the characteristics that is looked for in potential drugs.