An introductory survey. Emphasis is placed upon the application of basic principles of chemical structure, conformational analysis, mechanism, and dynamics to molecules and reactions of importance in living systems. The principal focus is at the molecular level. Proteins are covered extensively, and attention is also given to carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. An extended examination of the concepts introduced in the first two semesters of organic chemistry.
Emphasis is placed on the relationships between structure and mechanism.
Articles from chemical journals are used to show the interaction of experiment and theory in the formulation and development of reaction mechanisms. Principles of instrumental chemical investigation and analysis. Basic theoretical concepts of inorganic chemistry applied to the principles of inorganic synthesis, and introductory organometallic and bioinorganic topics. An extended project involving the independent synthesis and analysis of a coordination compound, requiring the use of library facilities, volumetric and gravimetric techniques of quantitative analysis, and introductory spectroscopic techniques. Two second-semester projects identify unknown compounds using chemical and spectroscopic techniques.