Open Yale Courses
CHEM 125a: Freshman Organic Chemistry I
Mirrored from oyc.yale.edu · CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 · J. Michael McBride Richard M. Colgate Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
Mirrored from: oyc.yale.edu · Yale University · Chemistry
Instructor: J. Michael McBride Richard M. Colgate Professor Emeritus of Chemistry · License: CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0
About this course
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.
Course details
Course Structure
This Yale College course, taught on campus three times per week for 50 minutes, was recorded for Open Yale Courses in Fall 2008.
Texts
Reading assignments, problem sets, PowerPoint presentations, and other resources for this course can be accessed from Professor McBride's on-campus course website, which was developed for his Fall 2008 students. Please see Resources section for each individual lecture.
Requirements
The course grade is based on a 650-point system: 100 points for each of the three hour-long midterm examinations, 300 points for the three-hour final examination, and 50 points for participation in the course Wiki. In borderline cases, faithfulness in completing and submitting problem sets will be considered.
Grading
Midterm Examination 1: 100 points Midterm Examination 2: 100 points Midterm Examination 3: 100 points Course Wiki: 50 points Final Examination: 300 points
Syllabus
1 section · 41 lectures · links open at oyc.yale.edu.
Course sessions
- 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
- Midterm Exam 1
- Orbital Correction and Plum-Pudding Molecules
- Overlap and Atom-Pair Bonds
- Overlap and Energy-Match
- Checking Hybridization Theory with XH3
- 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)
- Midterm Exam 2
- 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
- Midterm Exam 3
- 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
- Final Exam