CHEMISTRY 3010
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY I

Fall 2009

MWF 8:00-8:55 AM, Room 201

CHEM 3010 is the first half of a two-semester sequence intended for chemistry majors, chemical engineers, and students in pre-health professional programs such as medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy.

Organic chemistry is the study of the compounds of carbon and their properties.  The term "organic" is derived from the fact that most of the first known carbon compounds were obtained from living sources.  Today, millions of organic compounds are known and only a fraction are naturally occurring.  All living organisms are constructed from organic compounds, therefore a student entering a medical field requires an understanding of how these substances act.  Over half of the top 50 chemicals produced in industry are organic, thus it is essential that an individual working in the chemical industry have some familiarity with them.

Our study of organic chemistry will be broken into several major categories:

1. The structure and nomenclature of organic compounds.
2. The theories and principles which govern the structure and properties of organic substances.
3. The chemical and physical properties of the various types of organic compounds.
4. The mechanisms, intermediates and energy changes involved in the reactions of organic compounds.

The major difficulty in learning organic chemistry lies in the fact that it incorporates two different categories of material. On one hand, there is a large body of knowledge that must be assimilated, in some cases requiring rote learning.  Underlying this body of knowledge is a theoretical structure based on the principles introduced in general chemistry.  Thus, the factual knowledge is only the tool of organic chemistry. A true understanding lies in the general application of the theories and principles encountered in this course. This may be in the understanding of chemical processes in living systems or the design and production of useful synthetic materials.  If this understanding is achieved, organic chemistry is transformed from a body of memorized facts into the systematic discipline that it truly is.

LABORATORY: The rules and regulations governing lab will be covered by the laboratory instructor. Laboratory activities are essential to this course. Therefore a passing grade (>55%) is required in laboratory to receive a passing course grade.

HOMEWORK:  Online assignments for most chapters will be available at WebAssign.  Students must purchase an access code to use this site for the class.  At least one of these assignments will be dropped in determining the homework grade.  Non-graded supplementary text problems are given on the class schedule for further practice.

QUIZZES: Approximately 5-7 short quizzes will be given, each covering only the preceding chapter. They will consist of short answer problems which cover basic material from both lecture and text. Within the limits of practicality, quizzes will not be comprehensive but will only cover the chapters indicated.  The lowest quiz score will be dropped.  Any missed quiz will automatically count as the drop score.  If any further quizzes are missed, make-ups will only be given if a reasonable, documented excuse, as determined by the instructor, is provided.

EXAMS: Two major exams and a final will be given. The major exams will emphasize the topics from the listed chapters, but must be somewhat comprehensive due to the nature of the material. Exams will review the basic knowledge and concepts but will include some questions which involve the application of these principles to new problems. The final exam will be comprehensive over the entire semester.

Generally a set of molecular models is extremely helpful in understanding certain aspects of organic chemistry.  An adequate set is available in the campus bookstore, however better sets are available online at Darling Models, HGS Models, or Prentice-Hall.

Students with a disability requiring accommodations should contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS). An Accommodation Request (AR) should be completed as soon as possible, preferably by the end of the first week of the course. The contact is located in the Roaden University Center, Room 112; phone 372-6119.

Last updated on August 19, 2009 .

This page maintained by David Crouse.