About Organic Chemistry

This primary goal for this elective course is to provide an option for students to pursue more focused, higher-level study in chemistry.  A secondary goal for this course is to create a more effective bridge between science as it is commonly taught in high school and science in a university setting.  If the course succeeds for the student, her or she will leave with a sound knowledge of organic chemistry, some insight into the workings of the material world and how humans can discover them, and a better appreciation of the logic of creative science and of how scientists really work.  

The course is structured as a college-level introductory organic chemistry course.  First semester topics include introductory chemical nomenclature, chemical structure and bonding, acid-base relationships, and mechanistically simple organic reactions. First-semester laboratory exercises include hands-on introductions to techniques such as crystallization, distillation, extraction, and chromatography.

Second semester topics include advanced chemical nomenclature, theoretical aspects of structure determination, introductory organic synthesis, and organic reactions of increased complexity. Second-semester laboratory exercises focus on synthetic techniques, modern spectroscopic techniques such as IR and NMR, and structure elucidation of complex unknowns.  Students will also participate in a field trip to conduct experiments at the organic chemistry teaching laboratories at The University of Texas at Austin.