This is the first semester in a two-semester introductory course focused on current theories of structure and mechanism in organic chemistry, their historical development, and their basis in experimental observation. The course is open to freshmen with excellent preparation in chemistry and physics, and it aims to develop both taste for original science and intellectual skills necessary for creative research.
How Do You Know?
Force Laws, Lewis Structures and Resonance
Double Minima, Earnshaw's Theorem, and Plum-Puddings
Coping with Smallness and Scanning Probe Microscopy
X-Ray Diffraction
Seeing Bonds by Electron Difference Density
Quantum Mechanical Kinetic Energy
One-Dimensional Wave Functions
Chladni Figures and One-Electron Atoms
Reality and the Orbital Approximation
Orbital Correction and Plum-Pudding Molecules
Overlap and Atom-Pair Bonds
Overlap and Energy-Match
Checking Hybridization Theory with XH_3
Chemical Reactivity: SOMO, HOMO, and LUMO
Recognizing Functional Groups
Reaction Analogies and Carbonyl Reactivity
Amide, Carboxylic Acid and Alkyl Lithium
Oxygen and the Chemical Revolution (Beginning to 1789)
Rise of the Atomic Theory (1790-1805)
Berzelius to Liebig and Wöhler (1805-1832)
Radical and Type Theories (1832-1850)
Valence Theory and Constitutional Structure (1858)
Determining Chemical Structure by Isomer Counting (1869)
Models in 3D Space (1869-1877); Optical Isomers
Van't Hoff's Tetrahedral Carbon and Chirality
Communicating Molecular Structure in Diagrams and Words
Stereochemical Nomenclature; Racemization and Resolution
Preparing Single Enantiomers and the Mechanism of Optical Rotation
Esomeprazole as an Example of Drug Testing and Usage
Preparing Single Enantiomers and Conformational Energy
Stereotopicity and Baeyer Strain Theory
Conformational Energy and Molecular Mechanics
Sharpless Oxidation Catalysts and the Conformation of Cycloalkanes
Understanding Molecular Structure and Energy through Standard Bonds
Bond Energies, the Boltzmann Factor and Entropy
Potential Energy Surfaces, Transition State Theory and Reaction Mechanism