This course covers most of the basics of a first semester Organic Chemistry course that one might take as a nursing student, science major or pre-med student. Ideally, students should have taken a year of General Chemistry as a prerequisite, although just completing first semester of General Chemistry should be sufficient.
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This course covers most of the basics of a first semester Organic Chemistry course that one might take as a nursing student, science major or pre-med student. Ideally, students should have taken a year of General Chemistry as a prerequisite, although just completing first semester of General Chemistry should be sufficient.
This course covers most of the basics of a first semester Organic Chemistry course that one might take as a nursing student, science major or pre-med student. Ideally, students should have taken a year of General Chemistry as a prerequisite, although just completing first semester of General Chemistry should be sufficient.
Students in this course have access to ample supplemental material, all of which will be found in the Resource Folders. In addition to the 18.5 hours of lectures, downloadable audio mp3 files of each lecture are included. For nearly all lectures, a Practice Assignment where you can test your understanding of the material can be found in the Resource Folder. Also included is an answer key for each Practice Assignment. Any graphs, figures or tables presented in the lectures are also available as downloadable files. The content of this course is as extensive as both of my General Chemistry courses that are also available on Udemy.
This course assumes that you have completed General Chemistry I and ideally General Chemistry II college courses. While you will not need to be familiar with all topics covered in those courses, you should have a good understanding of atomic structure, electron configuration, covalent bonding, electronegativity, Lewis Dot Structures, molecular geometry and hybridization. Being familiar with acid-base chemistry and equilibrium as it applies to acids and bases is a plus. Section 2 of this course gives a review of key General Chemistry topics needed for Organic Chemistry. Since this course covers only the basics of Organic Chemistry, spectroscopic techniques such as Infrared Spectroscopy, Chromatography and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance are not covered. Anyone who is interested in learning about various aspects of Organic Chemistry may find this course beneficial, especially if you had no prior exposure to Organic Chemistry in your studies.
What's inside
Learning objectives
- The basic topics of organic chemistry are covered in this course.
- Each topic is covered in detail with examples and practice assignments for each lecture.
- Introduction to organic chemistry
- A review of chemical bonding, atomic structure, electron configurations, lewis dot structures, molecular geometry and hybridization.
- The alkanes: nomenclature, structural isomerism, cyclic alkanes and their stability, conformational isomerism, physical and chemical properties.
- The alkenes and alkynes: nomenclature including cis-trans and e-z naming systems, determining units of unsaturation, polymers, physical and chemical properties.
- Aromatic compounds: benzene derivatives, nomenclature, chemical properties and orientation of substitution.
- Chirality: stereoisomerism with one, more than one and similar chiral carbon atoms , enantiomer, measurement of optical activity, r and s designations.
- Alcohols, phenols, ethers and thiols: their nomenclature, physical and chemical properties, polyhydric and unsaturated alcohols.
- Amines: their structure and nomenclature, physical properties, their basicity and heterocyclic amines.
- Aldehydes and ketones: structure, nomenclature, physical properties. oxidation and reduction reactions, keto-enol tautomerism.
- Carboxylic acids: structure and nomenclature, physical properties, acidity, properties and nomenclature of carboxylic acid salts.
- Carboxylic acid derivatives: nomenclature, physical properties, preparation and reactions of esters, acid halides, anhydrides and amides.
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- The basic topics of organic chemistry are covered in this course.
- Each topic is covered in detail with examples and practice assignments for each lecture.
- Introduction to organic chemistry
- A review of chemical bonding, atomic structure, electron configurations, lewis dot structures, molecular geometry and hybridization.
- The alkanes: nomenclature, structural isomerism, cyclic alkanes and their stability, conformational isomerism, physical and chemical properties.
- The alkenes and alkynes: nomenclature including cis-trans and e-z naming systems, determining units of unsaturation, polymers, physical and chemical properties.
- Aromatic compounds: benzene derivatives, nomenclature, chemical properties and orientation of substitution.
- Chirality: stereoisomerism with one, more than one and similar chiral carbon atoms , enantiomer, measurement of optical activity, r and s designations.
- Alcohols, phenols, ethers and thiols: their nomenclature, physical and chemical properties, polyhydric and unsaturated alcohols.
- Amines: their structure and nomenclature, physical properties, their basicity and heterocyclic amines.
- Aldehydes and ketones: structure, nomenclature, physical properties. oxidation and reduction reactions, keto-enol tautomerism.
- Carboxylic acids: structure and nomenclature, physical properties, acidity, properties and nomenclature of carboxylic acid salts.
- Carboxylic acid derivatives: nomenclature, physical properties, preparation and reactions of esters, acid halides, anhydrides and amides.
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Syllabus
Aromatic Compounds
Introduction
In this lecture we define Organic Chemistry and show what makes it different from other areas of Chemistry. We also look at the Carbon cycle in the environment.
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Syllabus
In this lecture we define Organic Chemistry and show what makes it different from other areas of Chemistry. We also look at the Carbon cycle in the environment.
The atomic number is defined and electron orbitals are discussed with respect to their energy levels and shapes.
The relationship between the electron configuration of the atoms and the Periodic Table is explained. The Octet Rule is introduced.
The two types of chemical bonding, ionic and covalent, are defined with examples given.
The method of representing valence electrons using dot structures is presented. Simple molecules are used as examples. The HONC rule is given and explained.
This lecture instructs you on how to draw Lewis Dot Structures for compounds with double or triple bonds.
In this lecture hybridization and bond angles are described for carbon, and to a lesser extent, nitrogen and oxygen. Sigma and pi bonds are defined. A summary sheet is given and discussed.
Hydrocarbons are defined and the four families that make up hydrocarbons, alkanes, alkenes, alkynes and aromatics are presented. Distinction is made between saturated and unsaturated compounds.
The three types of alkanes are listed and the first ten straight-chain alkanes are discussed with respect to their names, structural formulas and line-angle formulas
Structural isomerism is defined and several examples are given. The importance of structural formulas over molecular formulas for organic compounds is discussed.
Cyclic alkanes are introduced, named and it was shown how isomers of these compounds are made.
In this lecture the names of the straight-chain and branched alkyl groups are given.
The rules are given for naming branched alkanes. Several examples are given.
Nomenclature rules for naming alkanes when halogens are substituents are explained with several examples given.
Rules for naming cyclic alkanes with substituents present on the ring are given along with several examples.
Stereoisomerism is introduced and defined as it relates to di-substituted cyclic alkanes.
Conformational isomerism is explained, ethane and 1,2 dibromoethane are used as an examples.
The stability of cyclic alkanes is assessed based on ring strain of the structure. For larger cyclic alkanes, it is shown how the more stable conformational isomer can be determined.
The physical properties of melting point, boiling point, density and solubility of alkanes is discussed. The process of fractional distillation of crude oil to isolate different groups of alkanes is briefly described.
The two types of chemical reactions for alkanes, combustion and substitution are presented.
Alkenes and alkynes are defined as unsaturated hydrocarbons and units of unsaturation with respect to alkanes, alkenes and alkynes is discussed.
The rules for naming alkenes and alkynes are explained.
Cis-trans isomerism is discussed with its application to alkenes. Rules for nomenclature are explained.
The E-Z System of naming geometric isomers when cis-trans doesn't work is explained.
Units of unsaturation is discussed as it relates to isomerism.
The physical properties of alkenes and alkynes are presented.
Some of the basic types of reactions of alkenes is discussed. The Markovnikov rule is introduced.
This lecture shows how alkenes can react to form polymers and copolymers. Reaction mechanisms are shown for two types of polymerization reactions.
The chemical reactions of alkynes are discussed.
This lecture focuses on the structure of benzene with respect to the degree of unsaturation.
Several benzene derivatives were named, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were introduced as well as several aryl groups.
Nomenclature rules for naming mono-di- and multi-substituted benzene derivatives are given with examples.
The four basic types of reactions with aromatic compounds are discussed and explained: halogenation, nitration, sulfonation and alkylation.
The position of electrophiles substituted onto benzene derivatives is explained. Activating and deactivating groups are defined and shown how they determine the orientation of the product.
In this lecture we discuss what is required of a molecule for it to have a non-superimposable mirror image.
Properties on enantiomers are discussed in this lecture.
In this lecture we show how to represent stereoisomers in 3 dimensions using wedges and dashes for bonds. Fisher projections are also introduced.
Two methods of determining whether two configurations are enantiomers or identical molecules are explained.
In this lecture we explain how the optical activity of a compound is detected and measured and the term specific rotation is defined.
Stereoisomerism of compounds with two chiral carbon atoms is discussed.
Stereoisomers of molecules with two similar carbon atoms give rise to meso compounds. Under what conditions this occurs is explained in this lecture.
In this lecture we see that chiral cyclic compounds can have enantiomers, diastereomers and can also exist as meso compounds, depending on their structure.
The procedure for assigning R and S configurations to chiral molecules is given.
In this lecture some chemical reactions are presented that show under what conditions stereoisomers can form from chemical reactions.
Some of the common functional groups are introduced.
The classifications for alcohols are explained and rules for naming alcohols are presented.
In this lecture we discuss alcohols with more than one hydroxyl group including nomenclature.
The physical properties of solubility and boiling point of alcohols are discussed.
Four different chemical reactions are shown for the preparation of alcohols.
A review of acid-base chemistry, pKa defined, Lewis acids and bases defined and acidity of alcohols assessed.
The dehydration and oxidation reactions of alcohols are explained.
Nomenclature rules are given for naming phenols. Some phenols that occur in nature are presented.
Solubility, boiling points and acidity of phenols are discussed.
Structure and rules for naming ethers are presented.
Solubility and boiling point trends for ethers are discussed as well as comparisons with alcohols and alkanes.
The nomenclature and chemistry of thiols and sulfides (thioethers) are presented.
The structure of primary, secondary and tertiary amines is presented.
Rules for naming amines are given.
The solubility and boiling points of amines are examined.
The base strength of amines is explained in terms of electron withdrawing and electron releasing groups.
Heterocyclic amines are introduced and their basicity is discussed.
The structures of families with the carbonyl group are introduced.
The nomenclature rules for aldehydes and ketones are explained.
Trends in boiling points and solubility are discussed within these groups and compared with alkanes and alcohols.
A few important aldehydes and ketones used in industry are presented.
Oxidation of aldehydes and ketones is discussed as well as the Tollen's Test and the Benedict's test used to verify the presence of an aldehyde.
Several addition reactions of aldehydes and ketones are shown.
The keto and enol forms of aldehydes and ketones are explained.
The structure of carboxylic acids is given and the common names of some common acids.
Rules for naming carboxylic acids are explained.
Boiling Points and Solubility of Carboxylic Acids are examined.
Carboxylic acids are discussed with respect to resonance and strengths determined by electron withdrawing and electron releasing groups.
The rules for naming salts of carboxylic acids are discussed and solubility issues of acids are addressed.
The structures and nomenclature rules for four carboxylic acid derivatives are given.
Boiling points and solubility of the four carboxylic acid derivatives and discussed and comparisons between the families are made.
This lecture summarizes the preparation reactions of these acid derivatives as well as common reaction that these derivatives undergo.
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Reviews summary
Clear introductory organic chemistry basics
Provides a good base for future study.
Assignments reinforce learning effectively.
Lectures are clear and easy to understand.
Activities
Review General Chemistry Concepts
Show steps
Reinforce your understanding of fundamental chemistry principles. This will provide a solid foundation for grasping organic chemistry concepts.
Browse courses on
General Chemistry
Show steps
-
Review your notes and textbook from General Chemistry.
-
Work through practice problems on chemical bonding and structure.
-
Focus on topics like Lewis structures and VSEPR theory.
Build a Molecular Model Kit
Show steps
Visualize organic molecules in three dimensions. This will improve your understanding of stereochemistry and conformational analysis.
Show steps
-
Purchase a molecular model kit or gather materials to build your own.
-
Build models of various organic molecules covered in the course.
-
Use the models to explore stereoisomerism and conformational isomerism.
Read "Organic Chemistry" by Paula Yurkanis Bruice
Show steps
Supplement the course material with a widely respected organic chemistry textbook. This will provide additional explanations and examples.
View
Melania
on Amazon
Show steps
-
Obtain a copy of "Organic Chemistry" by Paula Yurkanis Bruice.
-
Read the chapters corresponding to the course syllabus.
-
Work through the example problems and end-of-chapter exercises.
Four other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all seven activities
Nomenclature Practice
Show steps
Solidify your understanding of organic nomenclature. This will enable you to correctly name and identify organic compounds.
Show steps
-
Find online resources or textbooks with nomenclature practice problems.
-
Work through a set of problems, focusing on alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes.
-
Check your answers and review the nomenclature rules for any mistakes.
Create Flashcards for Reactions
Show steps
Memorize key organic reactions and reagents. This will help you predict reaction products and understand reaction mechanisms.
Show steps
-
Identify the most important reactions covered in the course.
-
Create flashcards with the reaction name on one side and the reactants, reagents, and products on the other.
-
Review the flashcards regularly to reinforce your memory.
Refer to "Organic Chemistry as a Second Language" by David R. Klein
Show steps
Gain a different perspective on challenging topics. This book offers a simplified approach to organic chemistry concepts.
View
Organic Chemistry as a Second Language
on Amazon
Show steps
-
Obtain a copy of "Organic Chemistry as a Second Language" by David R. Klein.
-
Read the chapters corresponding to the course syllabus.
-
Work through the example problems and quizzes.
Tutor a Classmate
Show steps
Reinforce your understanding by explaining concepts to others. Teaching is a great way to solidify your knowledge.
Show steps
-
Offer to tutor a classmate who is struggling with the material.
-
Prepare explanations and examples for the topics they find difficult.
-
Answer their questions and provide feedback on their work.
Review General Chemistry Concepts
Show steps
Reinforce your understanding of fundamental chemistry principles. This will provide a solid foundation for grasping organic chemistry concepts.
Browse courses on
General Chemistry
Show steps
- Review your notes and textbook from General Chemistry.
- Work through practice problems on chemical bonding and structure.
- Focus on topics like Lewis structures and VSEPR theory.
Build a Molecular Model Kit
Show steps
Visualize organic molecules in three dimensions. This will improve your understanding of stereochemistry and conformational analysis.
Show steps
- Purchase a molecular model kit or gather materials to build your own.
- Build models of various organic molecules covered in the course.
- Use the models to explore stereoisomerism and conformational isomerism.
Read "Organic Chemistry" by Paula Yurkanis Bruice
Show steps
Supplement the course material with a widely respected organic chemistry textbook. This will provide additional explanations and examples.
View
Melania
on Amazon
Show steps
- Obtain a copy of "Organic Chemistry" by Paula Yurkanis Bruice.
- Read the chapters corresponding to the course syllabus.
- Work through the example problems and end-of-chapter exercises.
Nomenclature Practice
Show steps
Solidify your understanding of organic nomenclature. This will enable you to correctly name and identify organic compounds.
Show steps
- Find online resources or textbooks with nomenclature practice problems.
- Work through a set of problems, focusing on alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes.
- Check your answers and review the nomenclature rules for any mistakes.
Create Flashcards for Reactions
Show steps
Memorize key organic reactions and reagents. This will help you predict reaction products and understand reaction mechanisms.
Show steps
- Identify the most important reactions covered in the course.
- Create flashcards with the reaction name on one side and the reactants, reagents, and products on the other.
- Review the flashcards regularly to reinforce your memory.
Refer to "Organic Chemistry as a Second Language" by David R. Klein
Show steps
Gain a different perspective on challenging topics. This book offers a simplified approach to organic chemistry concepts.
View
Organic Chemistry as a Second Language
on Amazon
Show steps
- Obtain a copy of "Organic Chemistry as a Second Language" by David R. Klein.
- Read the chapters corresponding to the course syllabus.
- Work through the example problems and quizzes.
Tutor a Classmate
Show steps
Reinforce your understanding by explaining concepts to others. Teaching is a great way to solidify your knowledge.
Show steps
- Offer to tutor a classmate who is struggling with the material.
- Prepare explanations and examples for the topics they find difficult.
- Answer their questions and provide feedback on their work.
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