Course syllabus

Course-PM

KBT036 Advanced organic chemistry lp3 VT20 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Contact details

Teacher and examiner                              

Henrik Sundén 

E-mail: sundenh@chalmers.se

Phone: 031 2773024

Office: 9054

Teachers                                                          

Gunnar Westman (westman@chalmers.se)

Jerker Mårtensson (jerker@chalmers.se)

Nina Kann (kann@chalmers.se) 

Mark Foreman (foreman@chalmers.se)

Lab instructors                                             

August Runemark (runemark@chalmers.se)

Andreas Ekebergh (ekebergh@chalmers.se) 

Course purpose

• provide a deeper and wider knowledge of organic chemistry
• generate insight into modern methods and experimental techniques used in organic synthesis
• offer experience of practical organic synthesis

Schedule

TimeEdit

Course literature

Clayden, Greeves, Warren and Wothers: Organic Chemistry, Oxford University Press, 2^nd edition. Can be bought at Cremona. If you have studied at Chalmers, you have this book already from earlier course. Chapters covered in the course are listed in the lecture schedule. Chapters 1-21 can be skimmed through for revision if desired, this material you are expected to know from basic courses in organic chemistry.

https://www.chalmersstore.se/en/foreign-literature/organic-chemistry.html

Also list reference literature, further reading, and other non-mandatory texts.

Course design

The course is built on a series lectures corresponding to 4 hp and is based on Jonathan Claydens textbook Organic chemistry 2^nd ed. In connection to the lectures there are exercises where problems from the text book are solved. Lectures and exercises are held every week and are largely responsible for covering the theoretical part of the intended learning outcomes. In connection to the lectures there is a lab course corresponding to 3.5 hp. The lab course starts the second week of the course, and takes place in teaching lab 5124 and 5126 on level 5. Lab teachers this year are August Runemark and Andreas Ekebergh. The lab course consists of a project lab to be carried out in groups of two students. Lab preparation will start Thu Jan 23 with a compulsory lecture on lab safety. If you are sick this day, please contact HS, AR or AE. Lab schedule can be found in “timeedit” (course KBT 036). At the end of the lab course, a report on the project should be written and the results also presented for the other students. The oral presentation takes place on March 5 and 6 in KS1. The lab safety lecture, approved written report and oral presentation are compulsory for the course. If you cannot be there that day, please contact HS.

Teachers will communicate via Canvas but it is encouraged that students communicate to teachers by e-mail referring to "Advanced Organic Chemistry KBT036" in the Subject field.

Changes made since the last occasion

A summary of changes made since the last occasion.

Learning objectives and syllabus

• After completion of the course the student should be able to:

  • be able to write reaction mechanisms for reactions covered in the course and expand this knowledge further to other organic reactions 
  • be able to suggest an appropriate multi-step synthesis of a small organic molecule 
  • have the ability to perform a multi-step organic synthesis in practice, including the handling of air and moisture sensitive compounds
  • use TLC to analyze a chemical reaction 
  • practically perform different purification techniques used in organic synthesis 
  • analyze products from an organic reaction using ¹H and ¹³C NMR and IR techniques 
  • write an experimental part of a paper according to the ACS literature standards 

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

Study plan

Examination form

The course is divided into two parts. A Practical lab based part and a theoretical lecture based part. Both components are worth 7,5 hp together.

To pass the practical lab part an 80% attendance of the scheduled lab time is required. Furthermore, the lab project should be presented in a written report, approved and presented in class at the certain date (see syllabus).  

Template for the project report can be found on the Cavas platform. 

To pass the theoretical part of the course you need to score at least grade 3 on the written exam. The written exam is also the part that sets the final grade of the course.  During the examination it is allowed to bring the textbook Organic chemistry by Jonathan Clayden.