The VCE Chemistry course aims to enable students to  gain an awareness of the ethical, social and political contexts of scientific endeavours.

Earlier this term, two Year 12 Chemistry classes were fortunate enough to have Dr David Manallack, from the Monash University Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, present and workshop the Organic Chemistry topic of Functional Groups and Chirality.

While this may sound to some like the epitome of ‘geeky’ or ‘boring’, Dr Manallack was able to incorporate a fascinating perspective on the application, purpose and ethics associated with some common pharmaceuticals such as paracetamol, aspirin, food flavourings and arthritis, asthma, malaria and morning sickness medications. These were in the context of drug efficacy based on chemical functional groups and the resultant isomeric structures of organic molecules.