CHEM 350: Advanced Organic Chemistry

(1/2 Unit)
Prerequisites: CHEM 211, CHEM 212.
Reinforces and extends the concepts introduced in CHEM 211, CHEM 212 and introduces new concepts, reactions and molecular theories. Taught with one of two emphases: (1) the synthetic course extends understanding of organic reactions, introduces the most current synthetic organic methods and asks students to use their knowledge to propose syntheses of complex molecules; (2) the physical/mechanistic course includes topics such as aromaticity and models used to explain thermal and photochemical concerted reactions such as frontier orbital theory, Huckel-Mobius transition state theory and the conservation of orbital symmetry. Students in both courses are taught to read and understand the chemical literature, then write about and orally present the novel chemistry they have learned. French, Harris, McCaffrey.