Course description - This course is designed to introduce the student to the chemistry of organic compounds and survey various classes of biomolecules with regard to their structure and biological activity.  The laboratory component of this course is designed to reinforce topics discussed in the lecture as well as examine some basic techniques of the two disciplines.

Faculty
Dr. Chriss McDonald, lectures, lab, recitations HBC 233
*321-4186 (work), 433-4493 (home, call up to 10 PM [no kidding]), or e-mail (mcdonald@lycoming.edu)

Texts etc.
a. Organic and Biological Chemistry  by John Holum#
b. Chemistry 115 Lab Manual, by McDonald#
c. Bound laboratory notebook by Freeman#
d. Lab safety glasses^
e. Calculator (add, subtract, multiply, divide, logs)
f. Lab deposit, $10 at lab check-in, cash only (refundable upon checkout)

#available at the bookstore
^sold by the Chem Club (also available at hardware stores)

Course format
Lectures - MWF, 10:15 - 11:05, HBC G41, Attendance required.

Recitations - Tuesday, 1:00 - 1:50 PM, HBC G41.  The primary method for evaluating chemistry students in testing situations is to have them work problems.  In recitation we will practice the same sort of problems you will see in testing situations.  Attendance expected.  I will not take attendance but I might use some of the examples discussed in recitation as exam and quiz questions.  I have found, that on the average, students who attend recitation in my courses get an average of one full letter grade higher than those who don’t attend.

Assigned homework - Problems designed to enhance your understanding and prepare you for testing situations.  A key will be posted in the secretary’s office and outside the lab.  Homework will not be collected.  A large chunk of recitation will be devoted to working these problems.

Laboratory - T, 2:00 – 4:50  pm Tuesday, HBC 220, 239.  Attendance required.  Here you will experience what chemists actually do.  Your labwork will be evaluated as described in the lab syllabus as well as on the lecture exams.  Approximately 5% of each exam will be drawn from the labwork.  A lab syllabus will be distributed at the first lab session.  Make sure and show up with your $10 lab deposit (cash only) that first week.

Grading scheme
a. The final grade is based on the number of points obtained out of a possible 600 points.  The points will be distributed as follows:
 

quizzes	60 points (10%)
hour exams	300 points (50%)
final exam (cumulative)	100 points (17%)
laboratory	140 points (23%)
total	600 points (100%)

note:  If you score higher on the cumulative final exam this score will also be used to replace your lowest hourly exam score.

b. Assignment of letter grades is based on the following scale:  540 - 600 A, 480 - 539 B,  420 - 579 C, 360 - 419 D, < 360 F.

c. A word about learning chemistry.  Studying chemistry is hard work for most people  (this is certainly true for me).  I would recommend that you work on the lecture  material one hour per day outside of class for starters.  Once you see how things are going this amount can be adjusted as needed (I suggest a significant increase in study time prior to an exam).  If you are having trouble make sure and come and see me.  I’m easy to talk to and will do whatever I can to help you. You will be responsible for all of the material listed on the following schedule for the indicated exams and quizzes.  It is not sufficient to learn the material from the lecture alone.  You are expected to read and think about the material prior to the lecture.  We must necessarily cover a large amount of material so our pace must be geared towards those who are ready to learn.  A major key to success is consistency of effort.  The hour exams will be somewhat cumulative in the sense that we need to know the earlier material to comprehend the latter.  For an idea of what my exams are like in Chem 115 see Appendix C in the Lab Manual.

Policy on attendance
Attendance at quizzes and exams is mandatory.  Makeups will be administered only if I deem the reason for absence to be legitimate and I am made aware of the absence beforehand.  Each documented, unexcused lecture absence beyond the first two will cost you one point from your total.
 

date	topic	text	quiz/exam
8/30M	introduction	1.1	-
9/1W	bonding, hydrocarbon structure	1.2,3	-
9/3 F	alkane and cycloalkane nomenclature	1.5,6, handout	-
9/6 M	alkane physical and chemical properties	1.5-7	-
9/8W	functional groups and Lewis structures	1.4, handout	QUIZ 1
9/10 F	acid/base reactions and how they occur	handouts	-
9/13 M	alkene nomenclature	2.1-3	-
9/15 W	alkene addition reactions/ mechanism	2.4,5	QUIZ 2
9/17 F	as above	2.4,5	-
9/20 M	as above	2.4,5	-
9/22 W	arene substitution reactions	2.7	QUIZ 3
9/24 F	alcohol nomenclature and physical props	3.1,2	-
9/27 M	alcohol oxidation reactions	3.3	-
9/29 W	EXAM 1	-	-  EXAM 1
10/1F	thiols	3.6	-
10/4M	aldehyde/ketone nomenclature	4.1,2	-
10/6 W	A/K redox	4.3,4	-
10/8 F	reaction of A/K  with alcohols	4.5	-
10/11 M	carboxylic acid nomenclature/acidity	5.1,2	-
10/13 W	esterification	5.3,	QUIZ 4
10/15 F	nomenclature/properties of esters	5.4,5, 9.2	-
10/18M	amine structure and basicity	6.1,2	-
10/20 W	amides	6.3	QUIZ 5
10/22 F	Long Weekend	-	-
10/25 M	applications of amine and amide chemistry	6.3	-
10/27 W	EXAM 2	-	-  EXAM 2
10/29F	enantiomers	7.1,2	last day to drop
11/1 M	plane-polarized light and optical rotation	7.3	-
11/3 W	diastereomers	7.2	-
11/5 F	resolution	-	-
11/8 M	monosaccharides	8.1-4	-
11/10 W	disaccharides	8.5	QUIZ 6
11/12 F	polysaccharides	8.6	-
11/15M	amino acid structure	10.1	-
11/17W	pH, pKa, and pI of a.a's	10.2	QUIZ 7
11/19 F	protein structure	10.2-7	-
11/22M	EXAM 3	-	-  EXAM 3
11/24 W	Thanksgiving	-	-
11/26 F	Thanksgiving	-	-
11/29 M	protein structure	10.2-7	-
12/1W	enzyme intro	11.1	-
12/3 F	how enzymes work	11.2-4	-
12/6 M	nucleic acid structure	13.1,2	-
12/8 W	replication, transcription	13.3	-
12/10 F	translation	13.4	-
12/13 through 12/17	FINAL EXAMINATIONS	-	-

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chem 11598 (FALL) Lab Schedule

week	date	experiment(s)	read chp.
1	8/31	Check in/introduction	1,2
2	9/7	Simple and Fractional Distillation of a Mixture	3
3	9/14	Reaction of 4-Methyl-1-butanol with Acetic Acid (7A) (Distillation  writeup due)	7
4	9/21	finish above synthesis of banana oil (7B)	7, 5
5	9/28	Qualitative Organic Analysis (Banana Oil lab due)	8
6	10/5	Synthesis of Benzil (12A) (Qualitative Org. Anal. due)	12
7	10/12	recrystallization of benzil (12B), Separation of an Acidic and Neutral Substance  By Extraction	11-12, 9
8	10/19	characterization of benzil (12C), characterization of benzoic acid and naphthalene  (Benzil lab due)	12 , 9
9	10/26	The Synthesis of Dilantin (13A)    (Extraction writeup due)	13
10	11/2	recrystallization of Dilantin (13B)    The Isolation of (+) - Limonene from    Orange Peel (14A)	13,14
11	11/9	characterization of dilantin (13C) polarimetry of limonene (14B)   (Dilantin writeup due)	13
12	11/16	Characterization of Carbohydrates     (Limonene writeup due)	15
13	11/23	NO LAB	-
14	11/30	Enzymes 1:  The Effect of Substrate   Concentration on the Rate of an Enzymatic   Reaction (Carbohydrate writeup due)	17,18
15	12/7	Checkout(!)   (Enzymes 1 writeup due)	-

 
GRADING:  The lab component of  your grade is 140 points out of the 600 for the course.  There will be 9 grades for writeups (14 points each).  Makeups for missed labs are often not possible.  A typical grade for a writeup  can be broken down into three parts:  content of the writeup (60%), yield of the product (20%), purity of the product (20%).  Late lab writeups will cost you 5% per school day.  The remaining 14 points of the lab grade will be based on an assessment done by the instructor and TA of your performance in the lab.  Three areas will be evaluated:  1.  preparation - have you read the lab and do you have a fair idea of what should transpire?  2. lab etiquette - do you clean up after yourself (including the common areas of the lab such as balances, melting point apparati...) and treat your labmates with respect?; 3. safety - are safety rules followed?
 

USEFUL SUPPLEMENTARY SOURCES:  One part of your  lab writeup requires you to list several physical properties for the compounds involved in that particular experiment.  This information can be obtained most conveniently from one of the following:
1) The Merck Index - located in the lab, the reading room, and the library reference collection (RS.51);
2) The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics - located in the lab, the reading room, and the library  reference collection (QD.65);
3) The Aldrich Catalog - located in the lab and the reading room;
4) www.fisher.1.com (and other links on the department of chemistry homepage).