ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

CH 311, 312, 313-02

SYLLABUS AND TENTATIVE OUTLINE

2008

Syllabus:  Is organic chemistry really as tough as everyone says it is?  The answer is yes and no.  Yes, because you will spend more time on organic than you would spend in a course on underwater basket weaving.  And no, because those who say it is so tough have studied insufficiently and incorrectly.  Organic chemistry is not a memorization game!  Former students perpetuate the false rumor that organic chemistry is the toughest class on campus; try Physical Chemistry, because it makes them feel better about the poor grades that they received.

If organic chemistry is not about memorization, then what is it about?  It is all about making sense of the basics, the fundamentals, the individual concepts that make up organic chemistry and learning and remembering the terminology.  Learning the terminology will come with review and practice and eventually become second nature to you. 

We will be studying reactions and mechanisms for various types of organic compounds.  These compounds differ in they type of functional group they have.  This will determine the chemistry of the compound.  Most of the reactions we will be studying will be acid/base type reactions involving either Bronsted-Lowry or Lewis acids and bases.  You must know these concepts which were introduced and studied in your General Chemistry sequence of courses. 

Now, how does one study for organic chemistry?  There are two separate aspects to any organic chemistry course.

1.      Understanding the principles

2.      Being able to apply these principles by solving problems. 

The principles are in your text books and will be discussed in your lecture notes, but you must discover how to solve the problems.  Most students have a difficult time with this task.  A book that will help you with this task is the book by Klein, Organic Chemistry as a Second Language.  Then there is a simple habit that you must form immediately:  learn to ask the right questions.

In any profession, the first step of diagnosing a problem is always to ask the right questions.  Let’s say like many of you that you are trying to decide if you really want to be doctor.  There are some tough, penetrating questions you should be asking yourself.  It boils down to learning how to ask the right question.

The same is true with solving problems in organic chemistry or any other course.  Unfortunately, you are expected to learn how to do this on your own.  Klein’s book will help you with this.  You can learn what questions to ask when doing a problem set, taking a quiz or exam.  The only way to truly master problem-solving is to practice problems every day, consistently.  You will never learn how to solve problems by just reading a book.  You must try, and fail, and try again.  You must learn from your mistakes.  You must get frustrated when you can’t solve a problem.  That is the learning process!  The worst thing you can do is to read through the solution manual and think you now know how to solve problems.  It doesn’t work that way.   If you want an A, you will need to sweat a little (no pain, no gain).  And that doesn’t mean that you spend day and night memorizing.  Students who focus on memorizing will experience the pain, but few of them will get an A. 

The simple formula:  Review the principles until you understand how each of them fits into the “plot” (course); then focus all of your remaining time on solving problems.  This takes time and writing things down.  You should be spending 2 hours studying outside of class for every hour you are in class and an additional 1 hour for every hour of lab.  Don’t worry.  The course is not that bad if you approach it with the right attitude. 

TEXTS:

            1.  Lecture:  Organic Chemistry; Solomons and Fryhle, 9th ed., Wiley

2. Laboratory: Techniques in Organic Chemistry; J.R. Mohrig, C.N. Hammond, P.F. Schatz, T.C. Morrill; 2^nd ed, Freeman, 2006

3.  Organic Chemistry as a Second Language I & II, Klein; 2nd ed.;  J. Wiley and Sons

4.  Laboratory Notebook purchased from chemistry office.

LECTURE:

1.  You are responsible for the material in your textbook and on the study sheets.

2.  You are responsible for doing the assigned problems.  They are for you benefit and will help you with your understanding and studying for exams.

3.  You are responsible for the assigned discussion material.

4.  There will be quizzes at various times during the term.  If you miss a quiz there will be no makeup.

5.  There will be 4 exams during the term.  If you miss the exam the makeup will at the discretion of the instructor.

LABORATORY:

1.  You will do the laboratory assignments on the day they are assigned unless PRIOR arrangements have been made by you with your laboratory instructor.  Due to the large number of organic chemistry students there will be no makeup days for laboratory and probably little or no room in other laboratory sections.  I would therefore plan to do your laboratory on the day assigned.

2.  You will follow the rules that are given to you about the proper behavior in the laboratory.  These will be discussed and are in your laboratory textbook under the safety section.  They also appear on the safety information sheet you will get with your laboratory equipment sheet.  KNOW THESE SAFETY AND BEHAVIOR RULES!!!!  THIS IS THE ONLY WARNING YOU WILL RECEIVE IN WRITING ABOUT SAFETY GOGGLES!!!  SAFETY GOGGLES AND A LABORATORY APRON MUST BE WARN IN THE LABORATORY AT ALL TIMES!!!  IF YOU DO NOT WEAR THEM, THE INSTRUCTOR WILL ASK YOU TO LEAVE AND YOU WILL RECEIVE A ZERO FOR THE LABORATORY EXPERIMENT FOR THAT DAY!!!  THERE IS NO MAKEUP!!!THE PROPER SAFETY GOGGLES YOU ARE TO WEAR WILL BE SHOWN TO YOU.  YOU CAN PURCHASE GOGGLES AND APRONS FROM THE CHEM SECRETARY.

3.  Other information and procedures about the laboratory will be discussed during the first laboratory period this week.  Monday laboratory persons MUST CHECK INTO THE LABORATORY DURING ONE OF THE OTHER SCHEDULED LABORATORY PERIODS AND YOU MUST STAY FOR THE WHOLE SESSION TO GET THE HANDOUTS AND DISCUSSION MATERIALS.  THERE WILL BE A PENALTY FOR CHECKING INTO LABORATORY DURING THE SECOND WEEK!!!

GRADING: 

1.  Lecture:

a.  Quizzes: There will be 6-7 quizzes given during the term at 20-30 points each.  The best 5 will be chosen to equal the score for one exam.

b.      Exams:  Two exams and a Final Exam

c.       The exams will be 100 points each.

d.  Final exam will count as two exams (200 points).

e.  Project:  There will be two-three projects during the term in total worth one exam.

2.  Laboratory:

See Laboratory instructor: Laboratory Syllabus and outline.

3.  Course: 70% Lecture and 30% Laboratory

A: 90% and above

A-: 88-89.9%

B+: 85-87.9%

B: 78-84.9%

B-: 75-77.9%

C+: 72-74.9%

C: 62-71.9%

C-: 55-61.9%

D: 50.0-54.9%