The idea behind the website/application (app) Chemistry By Design (CByD) was conceived by Professor Njardarson in 2010. The original raw concept was to create an interactive virtual educational flashcard that would allow users to learn new chemistry for free and test their skills using known published synthetic sequences. The graphically minimalistic design goal was to display reagents, starting materials and products for every single step used in construction of natural products and pharmaceuticals. Users could then test assess their mastery by browsing sequences forward or backward. This idea became a reality after a January 2011 meeting with Stuart Glogoff, Gary Carstensen and Joseph Boudreaux from the Office of Instruction and Assessment (OIA) at The University of Arizona, where OIA graciously offered its support in creating one of the first Apps at The University of Arizona. Professor Njardarson along with postdoctoral fellow Cristian Draghici and master programmer Gary Carstensen then worked tirelessly in creating the app, which was released as a FREE app for apple and android devices in the summer of 2011. Content can also be viewed via a CByD website at https://chemistrybydesign.oia.arizona.edu/. Importantly, the content of Chemistry by Design is continuously growing (new content added weekly). We happily accept submission to the app/website and acknowledge all contributors. This important continued effort has been made possible by support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), with original support form Grant CHE-0848324 and currently Grant CHE-2153657.
Details of the origin, design and launch have been described in the following publication. Please cite this publication when discussing Chemistry By Design. Thank you.
Draghici, C.; Njardarson, J. T. “Chemistry By Design: A Web-Based Educational Flashcard Exploring Synthetic Organic Chemistry” J. Chem. Ed. 2012, 89, 1080-1082.