Organic Chemistry Syllabus: A Comprehensive Overview
Organic chemistry, the study of carbon-containing compounds, is a cornerstone of many scientific disciplines, particularly those in the health professions. This article provides a comprehensive overview of a typical organic chemistry syllabus, focusing on the key components of both lecture and laboratory courses. It will be useful for students from a 5th-grade level to professional level.
Organic Chemistry I: Lecture (CHEM 1020)
CHEM 1020 is a three-credit, lecture-only course designed as an introduction to structure, reactivity, and analysis of organic molecules for students interested in the health professions. The course emphasizes a "Carbonyl First" approach, which focuses on carbonyl reactions early on due to their importance in biochemistry. This course will focus on the structure and properties of organic compounds, carbonyl reactions (needed for biochemistry), and spectroscopy.
Course Overview
The course introduces students to organic structures, including functional groups, nomenclature, stereochemistry, and conformations. It then delves into carbonyl reactions, specifically nucleophilic additions to ketones/aldehydes and nucleophilic substitution to acid derivatives. These topics are subsequently applied to biochemical settings, providing context for their relevance. The course concludes with an introduction to spectroscopic analysis.
This course is designed to prepare students for entrance exams in the health professions and to provide a foundation for understanding essential biological pathways encountered in professional studies. It also lays the groundwork for a more advanced understanding of chemical reactivity topics covered in Organic Chemistry II. This course is considered an upper-level undergraduate course (300 level or above).
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of CHEM 1020, students should be able to:
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- Classify organic compounds by functional groups.
- Predict acid-base chemistry of organic compounds.
- Evaluate the 3D structure of small organic compounds (isomers, naming, conformations, and stereochemistry).
- Articulate the factors that impact the nucleophilic addition to carbonyls, using curved arrows, reaction profiles, molecular orbitals, and thermodynamics.
- Transfer an understanding of mechanism and intermediates to predict products of related reactions.
- Explain catalysis of carbonyl reactions in both organic reactions and enzymatic reactions.
- Analyze data from IR, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR spectroscopy to determine the structure of small organic compounds.
Organic Chemistry I: Lab (CHEM 1020L)
CHEM 1020L is a one-credit, lab-only course offering an introductory-level college organic chemistry experience for health science majors. This course is considered an upper-level undergraduate course (300 level or above).
Course Overview
The lab emphasizes understanding the concepts behind the experiments and the application of the scientific method. This is designed to ensure that healthcare professionals have a general understanding of how science and the scientific method contribute to their profession. The UNE online organic chemistry faculty member provides an introduction to each laboratory, relating the lab content to the corresponding course lecture and emphasizing the relevance to the Health Sciences. This course is a Carbonyl First approach to organic chemistry. This course will focus on the structure and properties of organic compounds, carbonyl reactions (needed for biochemistry), and spectroscopy.
The labs are tailored for pre-medical, dental, PA, DPT, pharmacy, dietetics, and graduate nutrition students. Topics covered include separation and purification techniques and an introduction to spectroscopy. The course introduces students to important laboratory techniques covered on most professional entrance exams.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of CHEM 1020L, students should be able to:
- Ask a question or define a problem that can be tested.
- Hypothesize possible result(s).
- Plan and/or conduct an investigation individually and/or collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence.
- Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (i.e. computational, mathematical, graphical, etc.) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.
- Communicate the results by constructing an explanation based on multiple pieces of valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
- Apply scientific ideas, principles, and/or evidence gained from various experiments, as well as other observations and/or research, to provide an explanation of phenomena and solve design problems, taking into account possible unanticipated effects.
Course Prerequisites
To ensure success in Organic Chemistry I (CHEM 1020 and CHEM 1020L), it is highly suggested that students have completed two semesters of college-level general chemistry (CHEM 1010/ CHEM 1011). It is recommended completing the listed prerequisites before enrolling and within the past seven years.
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Online Lab Experience
For CHEM 1020L, laboratory assignments are typically included in most weeks. Students perform all laboratory assignments in a non-laboratory setting, such as their kitchen. Students will also complete one written lab report.
Tuition & Fees
The tuition and fees for the courses are as follows:
- CHEM 1020: Lecture Only
- Credits: 3
- Tuition: $1,365
- Registration: $30
- Total: $1,395
- CHEM 1020L: Lab Only
- Credits: 1
- Tuition: $455
- Registration: $0
- Total: $455
- CHEM 1020 & CHEM 1020L: Lecture and Lab
- Credits: 4
- Tuition: $1,820
- Registration: $30
- Total: $1,850
Total payment is due in full at the time of registration. The cost of the materials is not included in this total.
Required Course Materials
Students are required to have:
- Mandatory External Webcam and Whiteboard for Proctored Exams: SPHP courses require the use of the UNE-approved external webcam for all proctored exams. The UNE-approved whiteboard is optional dependent on the course.
- Textbooks: All course textbooks are available for free online. Two main texts are listed below:
- Schaller, C. (n.d.). Structure and reactivity in organic, biological and inorganic chemistry
- Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Organic chemistry 1: An open textbook.
- Lab Materials: All lab materials are purchased or accessed through your course. A subscription to Labflow will be required for assignments. A join code/access link is available upon enrollment in the course.
Course Flexibility and Registration
The course is self-paced, allowing students to complete it in as little as 16 weeks. Students can enroll for a course at any time through our self-service registration portal. Payment is needed in full at the time of registration. Students must be registered for their class by 12:00 noon EST the Monday before the class starts. The official start date is the date that the course opens, and students will have 16 weeks from that date to complete their course.
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Additional Chemistry Courses
CHM1020 | Chemistry for Liberal Arts | SumnerCHM1025 | Intro to Chemistry(UFO) | Benjamin-MessamCHM1031 | Basic Chemistry Concepts and Applications 2 (UFO) | VeigeCHM2045 | General Chemistry 1 | HaleCHM2045 | General Chemistry 1 P5 | HarrisCHM2045 | General Chemistry 1 P7 | HarrisCHM2045 | General Chemistry 1 (UFO) | HarrisCHM2045 | General Chemistry 1 | LopezCHM2045 | General Chemistry 1 | SumnerCHM2045L | General Chemistry 1 Lab | VeigeCHM2046 |General Chemistry 2 (UFO) | BenjaminCHM2046 |General Chemistry 2 | BenjaminCHM2046 |General Chemistry 2 | CaoCHM2046 |General Chemistry 2 | ChristouCHM2046 |General Chemistry 2 | HaleCHM2046L |General Chemistry 2 Lab | VeigeCHM2051 | Honors General Chemistry 2 | AngerhoferCHM2096 | Chemistry for Engineers 2 | KorolevCHM2096L | Chemistry Lab 2 for Engineers | KorolevCHM2200 | Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry | SumnerCHM2200L | Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry Lab | DavidsonCHM2210 | Organic Chemistry 1 MWF | Lopez D'SolaCHM2210 | Organic Chemistry 1 TR | Lopez D'SolaCHM2210 | Organic Chemistry 1 | HabenichtCHM2210 | Organic Chemistry 1 (UFO) | PortmessCHM2211 | Organic Chemistry 2 | BrunerCHM2211 | Organic Chemistry 2 | PortmessCHM2211 | Organic Chemistry 2 (UFO) | PortmessCHM2211 | Organic Chemistry 2 | PunthaseeCHM2211L | Organic Chemistry Lab | DavidsonCHM2213 | Organic Chemistry 2 for Majors | MillerCHM3120 | Introduction to Analytical Chemistry | Fan HongCHM3120 | Introduction to Analytical Chemistry | Boone PrenticeCHM3120L | Analytical Chem Lab | JacobsCHM3217 | Organic Chemistry/Biochemistry 1 | DavidsonCHM3218 | Organic Chemistry/Biochemistry 2 | RexfordCHM3218 | Organic Chemistry/Biochemistry 2 | StewartCHM3400 | Physical Chemistry for the Biosciences | PerezCHM3610 | Inorganic Chemistry | Murray, VeigeCHM3610L | Inorganic Chemistry Lab | SearlesCHM4130 | Instrumental Analysis | CaoCHM4130L | Instrument Analysis Lab | JacobsCHM4143C | Electronics and Instrumentation | Yong ZengCHM4272 | The Organic Chemistry of Polymers | SumerlinCHM4300L | Laboratory in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | ButcherCHM4300L | Laboratory in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | RexfordCHM4411 | Physical Chemistry: Thermodynamics and Kinetics | StantonCHM4411L | Physical Chemistry Lab | BrucatCHM4412 | Physical Chemistry: Chemical Bonding and Spectroscopy | BrucatCHM4413L | Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory | Eddy, Fanucci, Liu, ZhaoCHM4905 | Individual Problems: Undergraduate Colloquium | KorolevCHM4910 | Undergraduate Research | Angerhofer, Bruner, Butcher, Eddy, Fanucci, M. Harris, Perez, Rudolf, TangCHM4930 | Special Topics: Artificial Intelligence | LiuCHM4930 | Special Topics: Advance Biochemistry | RexfordCHM4930 | Special Topics: Antibiotics | RudolfCHM4930 | Special Topics: Chemistry of Solids | TalhamCHM4940 | Supervised Teaching | HabenichtCHM5275 | The Organic Chemistry of Polymers | SumerlinCHM6037 | Chemical Biology and Biochemistry Seminar | M.
MIT Standards
It is expected that no student will turn in work that is not his or her own by copying the work of another student or by using the work or solutions from this course given in previous years. Following a test or examination, a student will not try to deceive teachers or graders by misrepresenting or altering his or her previous work. Departures from the above standards are contrary to fundamental principles of MIT and of the larger scientific community. This subject deals primarily with the basic principles to understand the structure and reactivity of organic molecules. Emphasis is on substitution and elimination reactions and chemistry of the carbonyl group. L. G. Wade, Jr. Organic Chemistry. Recitations will begin the second week and meet twice per week. Recitation sections are assigned by the registrar.
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