This course focuses on organic reactions, reaction mechanisms, and the strategic applications of these reactions in organic synthesis. Topics include symmetry, stereochemistry, stereoselectivity, olefinations, olefin metathesis, transition-metal catalyzed cross couplings, cycloadditions, electrocyclizations, sigmatropic rearrangements, and other pericycylic reactions. The material will be illustrated by applications in multistep chemical synthesis. Based on this course, students should be able to read the modern literature, develop independent research proposals in organic chemistry, and succeed in graduate school.

This course a high level overview of methods for the study of organic, organometallic, and inorganic reaction mechanism. The preceding course Chem 5412 or its equivalent must be taken before this course. The course will briefly review basic mechanistic conventions (arrows, radical intermediates, etc.) and then more onto a survey thermodynamic and kinetic measurements used in understanding chemical reactions. Topics include kinetic measurements and interpretation, Arrhenius theory, Eyring theory, kinetic isotope effects, Hammett analyses, and electronic structure calculations. Articles discussing these techniques in delineating the reaction mechanisms for problems of current interest will be analyzed. The focus will be on experiments that can be accomplished with readily available analytical tools (NMR, IR, UV, GC, HPLC) and how an undertanding of mechanism can be used to optimize reaction yields and selectivities.

Physical Organic I is an introduction to advanced physical organic chemistry. Mechanism drawing with arrows to denote the movement of an electron density will be a unifying theme. The course will overview organic bonding (basic molecular orbital theory, anomeric effect), structure (bond lengths, bond angles, delocalization and resonance, conformational analysis), and reactivity (electronegativity, nucleophilicity, electrophilicity, acidity, basicity, stereoelectronics).

The principles of quantum theory and applications to atomic systems.

Principles of statistical mechanics with applications to systems of chemical interest.

An introductory survey of the bonding, structure, and reactions of important metal and nonmetal compounds.

An introductory survey of the bonding, structure, and reactions of important metal and nonmetal compounds.

An introductory survey of the bonding, structure, and reactions of important metal and nonmetal compounds.

Fundamentals of biological chemistry, including the structure of biological macromolecules and their mechanism of action, intermediary metabolism, and the chemical basis of information transfer. Course can be taken concurrently with CHEM 2420 or CHEM 2425.

Fundamentals of biological chemistry, including the structure of biological macromolecules and their mechanism of action, intermediary metabolism, and the chemical basis of information transfer. Course can be taken concurrently with CHEM 2420 or CHEM 2425.