Advanced Organic Chemistry

Chemistry 403;  Fall 2010

 

 

 

INSTRUCTOR:             Prof. Tom Mitzel

                                             Office:  Clement 111, Williams 232, phone 297-5244

                                                            e-mail: thomas.mitzel@trincoll.edu

 

                                             Office Hours:  MW 5:30 – 6:15 PM

                                                                           OR BY APPOINTMENT

 

                                             Home Phone: 860 478-1404 (before 9:30 pm)

 

SCHEDULE:                  Lecture:             Monday, Wednesday 6:15-7:30 PM Clement 308

                                            

TEXTBOOKS:               Advanced Organic Chemistry, Part A, 5th Edition, Carey and Sundberg

                                             Molecular Model Kit

 

SUPPLEMENTAL       Students are encouraged to read other chemistry texts found in the

READING:                    library or available from the instructor.  A list of good books is given below

 

                                             1)           Modern Synthetic Reactions (House)

                                             2)           Organic Synthesis (Fuhrhop/Penzlin)

                                             3)           Advanced Organic Chemistry (March)

 

SYLLABUS:                   We will be covering the following topics during the course of the semester.

 

                                                            Reading Journal Articles/Presentation of Journal Articles

 

                                             Topics from Carey and Sundberg:

 

                                                            Chapter 2:         Principles of Stereochemistry

                                                            Chapter 3:         Conformational, Steric, and Stereoelectronic Effects

                                                            Chapter 1:         Chemical Structure and Bonding

                                                            Chapter 9:         Aromaticity

                                                          Chapter 4:         Study and Description of Organic Reaction Mechanisms

                                                            Chapter 5:         Nucleophilic Substitution

                                                            Chapter 6:         Polar Addition and Elimination Reactions

                                                            Chapter 11:       Orbital Symmetry

 

Other chapters/topics as time permits         

 

EVALUATION:            Biweekly Problem Sets, Weekly Paper, Two Exams, Presentations, and

                                             Class Participation will make up your final grade.  The final breakdown will follow the guideline shown below.

 

                                             Weekly Problem Sets/Paper:                 35%

                                             Mid term Examination:                         25%

                                             Presentations:                                        10%

                                             Class Participation:                                  5%

                                             Final Examination:                                 25%

 

 

 

TENTATIVE                  First Mid-Term              October 13, 2010

EXAM DATES:             Final Exam                     TBA

 

                                            

PAPERS:                Approximately every two weeks, you will be responsible for selecting an article from the recent literature (within the last 6 months) to read and summarize.  You will turn in a 1-3 page summary of the paper to me at the end of the week.  This paper should summarize what the author was trying to do, why the author was attempting to work in this area, and should include any significant mechanistic steps, historical context etc.  These papers are considered part of your weekly problem sets, and may substitute fully for problem sets on some weeks.  Part of the summary will be to compare your paper with another studentŐs summary to determine comparison and contrast of theories and techniques by the different authors.

 

                                   I will give the topic for the paper (it will generally be related to what we are discussing in lecture) and you will be able to choose from the Journals listed below.

 

                                             1)           Journal of the American Chemical Society

                                             2)           Journal of Organic Chemistry

                                             3)           Organic Letters

                                             4)           Synthetic Communications

                                             5)           Synthesis

 

                                             If you find an article from a different journal that you think may fall within the guidelines, show me the article, and if it does, then you may use that article.

                                            

 

PRESENTATIONS:     Approximately every 2 to 3 weeks, there will be 1-3 presentations presented in the class.  These will be given on the day papers are due, and will be a presentation of the paper you read and summarized.  You should keep this in mind when you are reading your article and writing up your paper for me each week.  The presenters will not be picked in any certain order, so you may be picked on any given week to present your paper to the class.  Your presentation should be about 15 minutes in length, given as a chalkboard talk.

 

                                  If you are not presenting during any particular week, you are expected to hand in two written questions regarding the presentation topic.  These questions need to be detailed and well thought out.  Since this is a seminar course, I encourage you to not only write your questions down, but to ask them of the speaker as well.

 

COMMENTS:            This course will be taught as part lecture and part seminar.  As such, your attendance is crucial to the success of the class, and your participation in lectures will be counted toward your final grade.  Since this is a senior level course, you will be expected to work independently to a certain extent.  You should feel free to read any material on the topics covered which will help in your understanding of the course.