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Course

Organic Chemistry I

CHEM-40010

Learn Organic Chemistry Online

 

This course provides a fundamental overview and introduction to classical organic chemistry. Students will have an opportunity to gain a general understanding of how to read chemical structures: how to draw bond-line representations of a molecule; how to identify formal charges; number of lone pairs (unpaired electrons); and, how to draw Lewis dot structures. Students will also learn what a resonance structure is and how to assess its relative importance. Acid-base reactions, chemical equilibrium, and various factors contributing to the charge stability (acidity/pKa) will also be briefly covered.

The course places emphasis on atom hybridization, bond geometry, stereochemistry, three-dimensional structure representation and nomenclature (naming) of organic compounds. Students will learn the difference between conformations (e.g., Newman projections and chair conformations); and configurations (e.g., chirality, enantiomers, diastereomers, meso-forms, R- and S- nomenclature and Fischer projections).

The first half of the course will provide an introduction of chemical reactivity and reaction mechanisms starting with nucleophilic substitution (SN1 and SN2) and elimination reactions (E1 and E2): the regiochemical and stereochemical outcome, determining the correct competing mechanism (substitution or elimination), determining the function of the reagent and predicting the products. The course will then progress to more-focused overview of addition reactions to alkenes and alkynes – in particular, covering the terminology describing regiochemistry and stereochemistry (e.g., Markovnikov and anti-Markovnikov products, syn- and anti-addition) and their chemical properties: alkylation, reduction, oxidation (ozonolysis), and many others. Students will also be introduced to alcohols and their derivatives (ethers and epoxides) and cover various synthetic methods describing their preparation (e.g., via reduction of ketones or aldehydes, Grignard reactions, etc.) and chemical reactivity: oxidation, ring-opening of epoxides, and others.

This course is designed for biology, premedical, prenursing, preclinical, prehealth students and anyone who is interested in learning introductory organic chemistry. A foundation in general chemistry is preferred to understand the topics of this course.

Format

 

This course is offered in an online asynchronous format. There are no set meeting times, however, students follow a weekly schedule and there will be deadlines to meet in terms of course requirements. This course cannot be completed at an accelerated rate.

Transferring for College Credit

 

Many courses at UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies may be eligible for college credit at UC San Diego or other institutions. Credit transfer is determined by the receiving institution. We recommend consulting with the registrar's office at your intended institution before enrolling to confirm how your courses will transfer.

Students interested in lab component: We offer CHEM-40012 - Organic Chemistry Laboratory.  This hands-on course designed to complement the theoretical concepts covered in CHEM40010:Organic Chemistry I lectures.

Course Information

Online
4.50 units
$845.00
Notes:

Course sessions

Closed

Section ID:

185238

Class type:

Online Asynchronous.

This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.

Textbooks:

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language 5th
by David R. Klein

ISBN / ASIN: 9781119493488

You may purchase textbooks via the UC San Diego Bookstore.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 1/13/2025

Schedule:

No information available at this time.
Closed

Instructor: Roman Valiulin

Roman Valiulin

Roman A. Valiulin believes that the key to effective teaching lies in bringing together deep understanding of the subject matter with insight into the bigger picture and recognition of the rich information that an elegant visual can convey. Great learning opportunities occur also when this approach is complemented with examples, homework assignments, projects, visually rich infographics, summaries, and comparison charts. His early learning experiences have helped shape his approach to teaching. Specifically, as early as high school, chemistry was not his natural forte. Consequently, he worked hard to develop creative methods for approaching, understanding, and applying complex subject-matter. In other words, he learned how to learn.This proved to be successful, as Roman A. Valiulin went on to obtain his dual B.S. and M.S. in Organic Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University - MSU (Russia, Moscow). MSU is one of the oldest established and most competitive universities in the country. He then moved across the ocean to the United States where he earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Denver. Afterward, he completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one with Professor K. C. Nicolaou at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and the other with Professor M. G. Finn at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. His industrial career started in Boston, Massachusetts where he joined the formulation development group in a mid-sized biopharmaceutical company. He gained experience in drug development and early discovery with an emphasis on physical organic chemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), formulation development techniques, and material sciences before joining the medicinal chemistry group as a synthetic chemist. After six years working in a biotech hub on the East Coast, he continues his career path as an organic chemist in San Diego.

Roman A. Valiulin has published over twenty research and review articles and is a co-inventor on numerous patents. He recently finished two teaching books: “NMR Multiplet Interpretation: An Infographic Walk-Through” and “Organic Chemistry: 100 Must-Know Mechanisms” published by De Gruyter. As a Ph.D. scientist, he believes in staying engaged with the learning community, and draws inspiration through teaching and by making visually-engaging and educational chemistry infographics, which he shares on his blog: The ChemInfoGraphic Blog: http://cheminfographic.wordpress.com

Full Bio
Add To Cart

Section ID:

185239

Class type:

Online Asynchronous.

This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.

Textbooks:

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language 5th
by David R. Klein

ISBN / ASIN: 9781119493488

You may purchase textbooks via the UC San Diego Bookstore.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 1/20/2025

Schedule:

No information available at this time.
Add To Cart

Instructor: Roman Valiulin

Roman Valiulin

Roman A. Valiulin believes that the key to effective teaching lies in bringing together deep understanding of the subject matter with insight into the bigger picture and recognition of the rich information that an elegant visual can convey. Great learning opportunities occur also when this approach is complemented with examples, homework assignments, projects, visually rich infographics, summaries, and comparison charts. His early learning experiences have helped shape his approach to teaching. Specifically, as early as high school, chemistry was not his natural forte. Consequently, he worked hard to develop creative methods for approaching, understanding, and applying complex subject-matter. In other words, he learned how to learn.This proved to be successful, as Roman A. Valiulin went on to obtain his dual B.S. and M.S. in Organic Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University - MSU (Russia, Moscow). MSU is one of the oldest established and most competitive universities in the country. He then moved across the ocean to the United States where he earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Denver. Afterward, he completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one with Professor K. C. Nicolaou at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and the other with Professor M. G. Finn at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. His industrial career started in Boston, Massachusetts where he joined the formulation development group in a mid-sized biopharmaceutical company. He gained experience in drug development and early discovery with an emphasis on physical organic chemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), formulation development techniques, and material sciences before joining the medicinal chemistry group as a synthetic chemist. After six years working in a biotech hub on the East Coast, he continues his career path as an organic chemist in San Diego.

Roman A. Valiulin has published over twenty research and review articles and is a co-inventor on numerous patents. He recently finished two teaching books: “NMR Multiplet Interpretation: An Infographic Walk-Through” and “Organic Chemistry: 100 Must-Know Mechanisms” published by De Gruyter. As a Ph.D. scientist, he believes in staying engaged with the learning community, and draws inspiration through teaching and by making visually-engaging and educational chemistry infographics, which he shares on his blog: The ChemInfoGraphic Blog: http://cheminfographic.wordpress.com

Full Bio
Closed

Section ID:

185240

Class type:

Online Asynchronous.

This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.

Textbooks:

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language 5th
by David R. Klein

ISBN / ASIN: 9781119493488

You may purchase textbooks via the UC San Diego Bookstore.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 1/20/2025

Schedule:

No information available at this time.
Closed

Instructor: Roman Valiulin

Roman Valiulin

Roman A. Valiulin believes that the key to effective teaching lies in bringing together deep understanding of the subject matter with insight into the bigger picture and recognition of the rich information that an elegant visual can convey. Great learning opportunities occur also when this approach is complemented with examples, homework assignments, projects, visually rich infographics, summaries, and comparison charts. His early learning experiences have helped shape his approach to teaching. Specifically, as early as high school, chemistry was not his natural forte. Consequently, he worked hard to develop creative methods for approaching, understanding, and applying complex subject-matter. In other words, he learned how to learn.This proved to be successful, as Roman A. Valiulin went on to obtain his dual B.S. and M.S. in Organic Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University - MSU (Russia, Moscow). MSU is one of the oldest established and most competitive universities in the country. He then moved across the ocean to the United States where he earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Denver. Afterward, he completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one with Professor K. C. Nicolaou at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and the other with Professor M. G. Finn at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. His industrial career started in Boston, Massachusetts where he joined the formulation development group in a mid-sized biopharmaceutical company. He gained experience in drug development and early discovery with an emphasis on physical organic chemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), formulation development techniques, and material sciences before joining the medicinal chemistry group as a synthetic chemist. After six years working in a biotech hub on the East Coast, he continues his career path as an organic chemist in San Diego.

Roman A. Valiulin has published over twenty research and review articles and is a co-inventor on numerous patents. He recently finished two teaching books: “NMR Multiplet Interpretation: An Infographic Walk-Through” and “Organic Chemistry: 100 Must-Know Mechanisms” published by De Gruyter. As a Ph.D. scientist, he believes in staying engaged with the learning community, and draws inspiration through teaching and by making visually-engaging and educational chemistry infographics, which he shares on his blog: The ChemInfoGraphic Blog: http://cheminfographic.wordpress.com

Full Bio
Add To Cart

Section ID:

185241

Class type:

Online Asynchronous.

This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.

Textbooks:

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language 5th
by David R. Klein

ISBN / ASIN: 9781119493488

You may purchase textbooks via the UC San Diego Bookstore.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 1/20/2025

Schedule:

No information available at this time.
Add To Cart

Instructor: Ryan Quinones

Ryan Quinones

Ryan E. QuiƱones has a background in organic chemistry. He received his B.S. in Chemistry, summa cum laude, from the University of Florida (2015) and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute (2021). At Scripps Research, Ryan worked with Dale Boger on 1,2,3-triazine methodology, exploring different modes of reactivity and addressing key questions regarding stereochemistry and reaction kinetics. Ryan’s industrial career began at 1859, a startup biotech with a proprietary microfluidics screening platform using solid-phase DNA-encoded libraries (DELs), where he was responsible for method development of chemistry for the company platform, requiring expertise with solid-phase combinatorial chemistry for high-throughput experimentation.

Outside of the lab, Ryan enjoys spending time outdoors enjoying what our wonderful earth has to offer, including the beach, hiking, fishing, and gardening. Although few things can beat a home-cooked meal and video game night with his wife.  
 

Full Bio
Add To Cart

Section ID:

188878

Class type:

Online Asynchronous.

This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.

Textbooks:

All course materials are included unless otherwise stated.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 1/20/2025

Schedule:

No information available at this time.
Add To Cart

Instructor: Angela Blum

Angela Blum
Add To Cart

Section ID:

185242

Class type:

Online Asynchronous.

This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.

Textbooks:

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language 5th
by David R. Klein

ISBN / ASIN: 9781119493488

You may purchase textbooks via the UC San Diego Bookstore.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 2/10/2025

Schedule:

No information available at this time.
Add To Cart

Instructor: Grant Seiler

Grant Seiler
Add To Cart

Section ID:

185245

Class type:

Online Asynchronous.

This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.

Textbooks:

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language 5th
by David R. Klein

ISBN / ASIN: 9781119493488

You may purchase textbooks via the UC San Diego Bookstore.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 2/24/2025

Schedule:

No information available at this time.
Add To Cart

Instructor: Daniel Flores

Daniel Flores

Daniel Flores has a passion for teaching organic chemistry and helping students learn how to problem solve. He believes in an engaged learning environment, encouraging students to ask questions and enabling them to think critically so they understand the material. He has previously been a TA for the general organic chemistry series at UCSD and is exciting about continuing to have the opportunity to engage with new students.

Currently, Daniel is a Sr. Scientist at Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the Process Chemistry group. This work involves improving the processes used to makes starting materials and drug substances, specifically oligonucleotides. Previously he was a member of the Chemistry team at Element Biosciences working on upstream R&D for short read DNA sequencing. This work focused on designing new probes and novel fluorescent dyes to enable high accuracy base calls.

Daniel received his B.S. from the University of Kentucky (2015). Here he got his first taste of research in the lab of Prof. Susan Odom, synthesizing small molecules as electrolyte additives for Li-ion batteries. After spending a summer at UC Santa Barbara in the Hawker group he knew he needed to move so southern California and completed his Ph.D. at UC San Diego under the guidance of Professor Valerie Schmidt (2020). His thesis focused on developing new modes of alkene activation using a copper photocatalyst.

Full Bio
Add To Cart

Section ID:

185248

Class type:

Online Asynchronous.

This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.

Textbooks:

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language 5th
by David R. Klein

ISBN / ASIN: 9781119493488

You may purchase textbooks via the UC San Diego Bookstore.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 3/10/2025

Schedule:

No information available at this time.
Add To Cart

Instructor: James Brewster

James Brewster

Over the years, James has developed a passion for chemistry and finds joy in teaching with the goal of breaking down difficult concepts into more digestible and enjoyable content. He believes that through active learning- with a combination of instructor feedback and student engagement- students develop the skills necessary to solve complex problems in the classroom and beyond as they dive into topics related to human biology, materials science, and drug discovery, among other challenges facing the world today.

James Brewser is an experienced chemist with publications spanning synthetic organic, inorganic, bioinorganic, and medicinal chemistry. He began his chemistry career at The University of California, Irvine where he carried out undergraduate research with Professor Kelvin Gee on developing new therapeutics to address cognitive deficits associated with neurodegenerative disease. Following his undergraduate degree, James moved to The University of Texas at Austin where he completed his PhD studies on developing new ligand systems to better understand the actinide elements. James also spent time in China as an National Science Foundation EAPSI Fellow, in Italy as a UT Austin Global Research Fellow, and at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a G.T. Seaborg Fellow. Following his graduate work, James carried out his postdoctoral work at Harvard University where he worked on the synthesis of fully synthetic trioxacarcin antibody drug conjugates. James is currently a medicinal chemist in Pfizer's Oncology Research and Development group (Boulder) where he works on targeted chemotherapeutics.

Full Bio
Add To Cart

Section ID:

185729

Class type:

Online Asynchronous.

This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.

Textbooks:

All course materials are included unless otherwise stated.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 3/31/2025

Schedule:

No information available at this time.
Add To Cart

Instructor: Roman Valiulin

Roman Valiulin

Roman A. Valiulin believes that the key to effective teaching lies in bringing together deep understanding of the subject matter with insight into the bigger picture and recognition of the rich information that an elegant visual can convey. Great learning opportunities occur also when this approach is complemented with examples, homework assignments, projects, visually rich infographics, summaries, and comparison charts. His early learning experiences have helped shape his approach to teaching. Specifically, as early as high school, chemistry was not his natural forte. Consequently, he worked hard to develop creative methods for approaching, understanding, and applying complex subject-matter. In other words, he learned how to learn.This proved to be successful, as Roman A. Valiulin went on to obtain his dual B.S. and M.S. in Organic Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University - MSU (Russia, Moscow). MSU is one of the oldest established and most competitive universities in the country. He then moved across the ocean to the United States where he earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Denver. Afterward, he completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one with Professor K. C. Nicolaou at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and the other with Professor M. G. Finn at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. His industrial career started in Boston, Massachusetts where he joined the formulation development group in a mid-sized biopharmaceutical company. He gained experience in drug development and early discovery with an emphasis on physical organic chemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), formulation development techniques, and material sciences before joining the medicinal chemistry group as a synthetic chemist. After six years working in a biotech hub on the East Coast, he continues his career path as an organic chemist in San Diego.

Roman A. Valiulin has published over twenty research and review articles and is a co-inventor on numerous patents. He recently finished two teaching books: “NMR Multiplet Interpretation: An Infographic Walk-Through” and “Organic Chemistry: 100 Must-Know Mechanisms” published by De Gruyter. As a Ph.D. scientist, he believes in staying engaged with the learning community, and draws inspiration through teaching and by making visually-engaging and educational chemistry infographics, which he shares on his blog: The ChemInfoGraphic Blog: http://cheminfographic.wordpress.com

Full Bio
Add To Cart

Section ID:

185731

Class type:

Online Asynchronous.

This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.

Textbooks:

All course materials are included unless otherwise stated.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 4/21/2025

Schedule:

No information available at this time.
Add To Cart

Instructor: Grant Seiler

Grant Seiler