Organic Chemistry Laboratory
CHEM-40012
The Organic Chemistry Laboratory is a hands-on course designed to complement the theoretical
concepts covered in the CHEM40010: Organic Chemistry I lectures. The lab focuses on the separation, purification, and synthesis of organic compounds using distillation, recrystallization, melting point analysis, chromatography, and other techniques. Emphasizing safety and precision, students will perform a series of carefully designed experiments, analyze data, interpret results, and engage in scientific reasoning. It is recommended that students have completed a college-level OrganicChemistry I lecture course or are taking it concurrently. This course is designed to provide an introductory-level college organic chemistry lab for health science majors.
Learning Outcomes
- Interpret chemical structures, draw bond-line molecule representations, draw resonance structures and assess their relative contribution, predict the position of acidbase equilibrium.
- Learn the concept of atom hybridization and bond geometry. Identify major functional groups and be able to name simple chemical compounds or draw their structures based on the name.
- Become familiar with typical organic chemistry lab equipment and their use.
- Develop skills to recrystallize, separate, and purify molecular species.
- Demonstrate the ability to conduct a reaction and understand the reaction mechanism.
- Demonstrate understanding and the utilization of reading FTIR and NMR spectra.
- Provide technical reports in pdf format detailing the experiments and their findings.
Prerequisites
It is recommended that students have completed a college-level OrganicChemistry I lecture course or are taking it concurrently.
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.
Note On The Lab
Course Information
Course sessions
Section ID:
Class type:
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:
No textbook required.
Policies:
Note:
Schedule:
Instructor:
Jacob Strain
Jacob Strain is a Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Texas at Austin where he is currently working on organic-Silicon interfaces. He has over 15 years of laboratory experience and has published numerous articles. He is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and received his Ph.D. from the University of Louisville, where he studied the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide.
Section ID:
Class type:
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:
No textbook required.
Policies:
- No refunds after: 1/20/2025
Note:
Schedule:
Instructor:
Jacob Strain
Jacob Strain is a Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Texas at Austin where he is currently working on organic-Silicon interfaces. He has over 15 years of laboratory experience and has published numerous articles. He is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and received his Ph.D. from the University of Louisville, where he studied the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide.
Section ID:
Class type:
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:
No textbook required.
Policies:
- No refunds after: 2/10/2025
Note:
Schedule:
Instructor:
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.
Section ID:
Class type:
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:
Instructor:
Jacob Strain
Jacob Strain is a Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Texas at Austin where he is currently working on organic-Silicon interfaces. He has over 15 years of laboratory experience and has published numerous articles. He is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and received his Ph.D. from the University of Louisville, where he studied the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide.