Organic Chemistry CHM 252 and CHM 254L
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Course Objectives:

Organic chemistry is taught in a two-semester sequence in CHM 251 and CHM 252.

(A) The first semester course is designed to introduce some of the basic concepts in organic chemistry to students planning science-related careers in which some knowledge of organic chemistry is important. In addition, students should gain an appreciation for the important role that organic chemistry plays in life processes. We will cover chapters 1-7, and 19 as well as sections of chapters 8-10 of the Fox and Whitesell text. In general, each student, upon completion of the first semester of this course, should be able to:

  1. recognize organic molecules and the various functional groups associated with them
  2. have a working knowledge of organic nomenclature
  3. understand and evaluate the three-dimensional structure of organic molecules
  4. outline and discuss the (basic) logistics of an organic reaction mechanism
  5. know the general categories of organic reactions
  6. interpret spectral data using spectroscopic data
  7. have a basic understanding of the theory underlying the various spectroscopic methods
  8. establish conceptual connections between topics of general chemistry with organic chemistry (especially with regard to acid-base chemistry, kinetics, thermodynamics, and structures)
  9. predict properties and/or reactivity of molecules based upon a given set of information
  10. apply some basic knowledge of organic chemistry to molecules of biological interest (e.g. amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, drugs, etc.)

(B) The second semester course is designed to build upon the basic concepts in organic chemistry that you learned in the first semester. In particular, we will expand our understanding of reaction mechanisms and begin to learn specific reactions in order to tackle multistep syntheses. It is absolutely imperative that you be constantly prepared to apply knowledge and to employ critical thinking skills. Rote memorization is less important than understanding the underlying chemical rationale in organic chemistry. Be on the lookout for the application of most of the basic concepts that you learned last semester. They will come up often and you need to know them (e.g. acid-base concepts and stereochemistry). Upon completion of the second semester of this course, each student, should be able to:

  1. Develop a working "tool box" of organic reactions
  2. Complete a reaction by predicting the reactants, products, or reagents required to perform that particular transformation
  3. Assemble a synthetic sequence that takes you from a given starting material to a particular target molecule
  4. Provide the rationale (using the curved arrow formalism and structures) for the mechanism of a given reaction
  5. Solve critical thinking problems by applying basic concepts in organic chemistry (e.g. nomenclature, stereochemistry, spectroscopy, etc.)
  6. Use acquired information to more clearly understand how biological systems function at the molecular level
  7. Propose and conduct an independent research project involving organic chemistry
 

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Timm A. Knoerzer
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Naz Chem. Dept.
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Last Updated Thursday, January 04, 2001 11:49:46 AM