Students are responsible for checking these lists and reporting errors or omissions to the lab instructor. It will be assumed that you are familiar with basic background material such as molecular structure, acidity, chemical reactions, kinetics, equilibria, etc. Considerable material is covered and the pace is necessarily rapid, requiring the student to read the textbook and work problems independently. Emphasis is placed on utilization of principles, structures and reactions learned early in the course to develop later parts of the course. Students have found that problem solving from the textbook or from study tests, obtainable from the Chemistry Club, is particularly useful for keeping up with the material.
Much useful material is also available on the Internet.
The four-hour laboratory every other week illustrates how the compounds discussed in lectures are handled, purified, and used in reactions. Fundamental techniques are taught and comprehension of the principles underlying the techniques is emphasized. The fundamentals of organic chemistry with a focus on major reactions of organic compounds. Included are principles of mechanisms, synthesis, and spectroscopy. This course provides a basic knowledge of the concepts of organic chemistry with an emphasis on the reactivity patterns of various functional groups, the mechanism of chemical reactions and the application of chemical reactions to the synthesis of useful products.