Qualitative organic analysis (QOA) has long been an integralpart of the undergraduate and postgraduate organic chemistrycurriculum. QOA sessions typically involve dealing witha lot of information that includes experimental procedures,derivatization methods and a tedious, time-consuming literaturesurvey. Finding a single source of all these data can oftenprove challenging. In this article, we describe an Androidbasedsmartphone application named ‘IntelliChemIdentifier’(CI) that can act as a virtual assistant and consultant for studentsproviding on-the-fly access to all the relevant informationrequired in an ongoing QOA assignment. Along with thedetailed descriptions of the chemical tests and derivatizationtechniques, this app provides a digital database enlisting numerousorganic compounds and their characteristic responseto the series of experiments routinely carried out in QOA. CIalso features a quiz section with separate problem sets andanswer keys that can act as a self-assessment guide to the students.Presently, when e-learning resources are in high demand,CI can make the lab work more engaging and excitingto students, as evident from the users-feedback and rating ofthe app.

Eminent educators, as well as common people, often question why most of the research work is somewhat repetitive and there are very few options for fundamental research in devel­oping science. So, the elementary question is, "what is funda­mental research?". Scientific research is driven by an exten­sion of previous research. If we demask the word 'research', i.e., 'further searching', it obviously leads to repetitive work. But this repetitive work must be driven by some fundamental values of the researcher. In this article, the authors try to ad­dress this conflict between repetitive research and fundamen­tal research in light of the never-ending journey of benzoin condensation, which has continued for 150 years. With the help of this example, it can be established that the fundamen­tal outcome of the research can be achieved via a continuous extension of the research process.

Eminent educators, as well as common people, often question why most of the research work is somewhat repetitive and why there are very few options for fundamental research in developing science. So, the elementary question is, "what is fundamental research?". Scientific research is driven by an extension of previous research. If we demask the word 're­search', i.e., 'further searching', it obviously leads to repeti­tive work. But this repetitive work must be driven by some fundamental aims of the researcher. In this article, the au­thors try to address this conflict between repetitive research and fundamental research in light of the never-ending jour­ney of benzoin condensation, which has continued for 150 years. With the help of this example, it can be established that the fundamental outcome of the research can be achieved via a continuous extension of the research process.