Students wishing to present a seminar during fall term should contact me during summer 2009.

The CH334/5/6 sequence is an intensive sophomore organic chemistry course for chemistry and biochemistry majors. CH335 carries on from the departure point of CH334 (a prerequisite) and in its first part (weeks 1-7) focuses on the chemistry of unsaturated carbon-carbon bond systems (alkenes, alkynes, and arenes). During the second part of the course (weeks 8-10), structural elucidation of organic compounds by the joint application of certain key analytical techniques (including IR and NMR spectroscopies and mass spectrometry) is explored through worked example classes.

 

A required course for all new chemistry graduate students. Details for this 1-credit hour course can be found on Safety Web.

Pericyclic Reactions and Photochemistry: It has been over forty years since Woodward and Hoffmann disclosed the principle of orbital symmetry conservation for concerted reactions. We shall explore this important concept in detail and learn how to apply the resulting Woodward-Hoffmann "rules" to the four classes of pericyclic reactions: cycloaddition, electrocyclization, sigmatropic shift, and group transfer. To further aid our understanding of these intriguing reactions, the frontier molecular orbital (FMO) theory of Fukui, which provides a different but essentially equivalent viewpoint of orbital symmetry conservation, will be covered in parallel. Essential elements of organic photochemistry will be presented at the end of the course to illustrate just how the excited electronic states necessary for some pericyclic processess are generated and their possible fates.