Holiday laboratory course ‘Caffeine – an inhibitor as a stimulant’
Caffeine is the most commonly used stimulant for increasing concentration and performance. It is mainly found in coffee and tea and binds to certain receptors in the body that affect sleep, blood vessels, muscles, the heart, kidneys and other organs. In the holiday course at the Leverkusen campus, students take a scientific look at the substance.
The three-day holiday laboratory course ‘Caffeine – an inhibitor as a stimulant’ at the Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences in Leverkusen offers school pupils the opportunity to engage with an everyday chemical substance in a subject-specific way. Working in small teams, they independently complete one of three specific laboratory tasks, applying modern scientific methods and equipment. Our scientific staff accompany and support them throughout the process.
We offer the following working groups and tasks:
Group 1: Extraction of caffeine from everyday products, such as black tea, using Soxhlet extraction and purification of the substance from the extract to obtain crystalline caffeine in its pure form.
Group 2: Investigation of characteristic properties and analysis of caffeine. Guided implementation and evaluation of the obtained 1H and 13C NMR spectra and IR spectra.
Group 3: Investigation of purified caffeine as an inhibitor of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (from Electrophorus electricus) using a microplate reader-based analysis method and evaluation of the data obtained to quantify the inhibitory effect.
Who can participate?
All interested upper secondary school students (aged 16 and above)
Maximum number of participants: 10
(Due to the limited number of participants, places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.)
When does the course take place?
In the last week of the summer holidays: 19 August – 21 August 2025
The programme:
Day 1: 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the latest: Discussion, safety briefing and then experimental laboratory work
Day 2: 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the latest: Experimental laboratory work and preparation of results for the next day
Day 3: 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Presentation of group results and discussion in plenary session, followed by a closing ceremony
(Days 1 and 2 include a one-hour lunch break)
Where does the course take place?
TH Köln, Leverkusen Campus, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, Campusplatz 1, 51379 Leverkusen
Arrival
Registration deadline
Two weeks before the start of the course (no later than 04.08.2025)
Registration:
By email to hans.hackradt@th-koeln.de
(Please indicate your preference for one of the three groups)
Meals:
Day 1: Self-catering, Day 2: Pizza dinner together, Day 3: Self-catering and ice cream for dessert.
The cafeteria is closed during the semester break. A snack machine
Picture Gallery
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Soxhlet extraction (Image: TH Köln - Juri Pavlik)
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A student pipettes in the laboratory. (Image: TH Köln - Rita Svenja Yalda)
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Caffeine after recrystallisation from pure ethanol. (Image: H. Hiller CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licensed/by-sa/3.0.)
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Modified ^1H-NMR spectrum of caffeine, original file: Macduff O. Okuom et al (Image: licensed und CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
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Our team looks forward to seeing you! (From left to right: Juri, Vesa, Hans, Anna, Markus (you will meet Dirk and Inken on site) (Image: TH Köln)
August 2025