Chapter 24. Exploring Mendelian Genetics

Equipment and Materials

You’ll need the following item to complete this lab session. (The standard kit for this book, available from www.thehomescientist.com, includes the only item needed for this session.)

Materials from Kit

  • Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) test strips

Materials You Provide

  • None

Background

In 1930, the American chemist Arthur Fox had a lab accident while he was purifying an organic compound called phenylthiocarbamide that he had just synthesized. Some of the finely powdered phenylthiocarbamide (also called PTC or phenylthiourea) escaped as a cloud of dust. Fox thought nothing of it until a colleague working nearby complained about the bitter taste of the material. Fox, who had been exposed to much ...

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