Instructor, Teaching Assistants, Office Hours, & Enrollment

Lectures: MWF 12:00 – 12:50 am (ALP 1300)

Instructor:  Dr. Susan M. King, NS2 2133, (949)824-5452, (email: s3king@uci.edu)

Office Hours: M 11-11:50 am, W 1-1:50 pm + floating office hour on midterm weeks

Lecture Assistants:   Taylor Thane (email: tthane@uci.edu) office hour: tba; Alexandra Kent (email: akent1@uci.edu) office hour: tba; Zach Thammavongsy (email: zthammav@uci.edu) office hour: tba

Website:  https://sites.uci.edu/chem51c

Online Homework (10% of grade): Sapling Learning

In-class activities: We will have various in class activities. For some of them you will get participation points.

Enrollment:  Use WebReg to add, drop, or change your grade option for your classes. The deadline to add/drop most classes is Friday of Week 2 by 5:00 pm. Laboratory changes may not be made after Week 1.

Chemistry enrollment-related questions are not handled by instructors. For enrollment-related questions, Please visit the Chemistry Undergraduate Program Office website at http://www.chem.uci.edu/schedulepolicy. If you have additional questions please contact the Chemistry Undergraduate Program Office at undergrad@chem.ps.uci.edu (include full name and UCI ID#).

***Enrollment in discussion is required. You can attend any discussion, but are required to be officially enrolled in one.

Course Materials:

  • Organic Chemistry, 3rd Ed, 4th Ed, or new 5th Ed Janice Gorzynski Smith, McGraw-Hill (hardcover, softcover, UCI edition or e-textbook okay.)
  • Student Study Guide/Solutions Manual: Organic Chemistry, Janice Gorzynski Smith and Erin Smith, 3rd Ed, 4th Ed, or new 4th Ed McGraw-Hill
  • Molecular Models: Molecular models are not needed for 51C.
  • Course Notes: An outline of the lecture notes will be available at the UCI bookstore.  The notes are designed to serve as a good template for taking notes during the lecture, but are not complete.You will need to pick these up before the Wednesday, April 5 lecture.  I will provide notes for the first day of class.
  • Optional: The organic chemical drawing software ChemDraw is available to UCI students at no cost. Your tech fees help pay for this. If enough students enroll, this will continue to be offered for free! If not, UCI will drop the site license. Here’s how to get your copy: https://www.chem.uci.edu/~chemoffice/

Homework Reading assignments are listed on the Course Syllabus. Readings are to be done prior to class.  It is recommended that you work all of the problems throughout the chapter, and the assigned additional problems.

Additional problems:

3rd Edition text:

Chapter 18:   35-48, 50-56, 59-60, 62-69, 76. *priority: 62-69
Chapter 19:   30-31, 33-34, 35-44, 47-55, 71. *priority: 35
Chapter 20:   39-73. *priority: 59-73
Chapter 21:   42, 43, 45-77, 81, 91, 93a.
Chapter 22:   41-65, 68-76, 78, 90.
Chapter 23:   30-42, 46-56, 59, 61, 65-70, 72, 73.
Chapter 24:   27-42, 44-48, 50, 52-56, 58, 60-66, 68-69.

For Chapter 25, I am including problems throughout the chapters also, since we are skipping some sections:

Chapter 25:  1-7, 10-21, 23-29 (skip Hoffman), 34a, 35, 36 (skip azo coupling, synthetic dyes), 41, 42, 45-51, 53-58, 60abcdegij, 61, 62abdef, 64abcef,65, 66abcdefhi, 68, 69, 71, 77a-g, 78a-d, 79, 80, 81, 82a-e, 83, 84, 88, 90.

4th edition text:

Chapter 18:   36-39, 40a-e, 41-48, 50, 51, 54-57, 60, 63-70, 76. *priority: 63-68 *priority: 64-70
Chapter 19:   28-29, 32-41, 43, 44, 47-55, 70, 73. *priority: 34
Chapter 20:   38-41, 43-49, 51-71. *priority: 55-71
Chapter 21:   42, 43, 45-73, 79, 90a.
Chapter 22:   40-55, 57-75, 88.
Chapter 23:   32-54, 57-60, 65-67, 69-72, 74.
Chapter 24:   28-44, 46-50, 52-56, 59, 61-67, 70-71, 73.

For Chapter 25, I am including problems throughout the chapters also, since we are skipping some sections:

Chapter 25:  1-6, 8-19, 21-27 (skip Hoffman), 32a, 33, 34 (skip azo coupling, synthetic dyes), 43, 46-51, 53-58, 60abcdgi, 61, 63, 64, 65abcdefh, 68, 70, 74, 75a-e, 76a-c, 77, 78, 79, 80a-e, 81, 82, 86, 89.

5th edition text:

Chapter 18:   36, 37, 38a-e, 39, 40abc, 41, 45-50, 52, 54-57, 60, 62-68, 75. *priority: 63-68
Chapter 19:   29-30, 32-41, 43, 44, 47, 49-56, 69, 72. *priority: 34
Chapter 20:   38-39, 41-45, 47-68. *priority: 55-68
Chapter 21:   43-67, 72, 88, 84a.
Chapter 22:   40-52, 54-69, 82.
Chapter 23:   32-39, 41-53, 56-58, 63-64, 66-68, 70.
Chapter 24:   30-43, 45-49, 51-53, 56, 60-65, 67-68, 71.

For Chapter 25, I am including problems throughout the chapters also, since we are skipping some sections:

Chapter 25:  1-4, 6-17, 19-25 (skip Hoffman), 29a, 30, 31 (skip azo coupling, synthetic dyes), 39, 44-45, 47-50, 52abcefghij, 54, 55abcdeh, 57, 59, 61, 65a-e, 66ab, 67, 68, 69ab, 70, 71, 74.

Exams, Exam Schedule, Regrades

Exams:  There will be two midterms and a final. All examinations are closed book.  No calculators are allowed.  Seats will be assigned all exams. Seat assignments will be posted prior to the exam on the on the doors leading into PSLH 100. Students must bring an official UCI Picture Identification Card with them to each exam. Graded exams will be scanned and then returned to you as a pdf file in the Dropbox utility at the eee website. Final exams will not be returned to students, but will be kept on file for one quarter for students who want to look at them.

Exam Schedule:

Midterm I (25% of grade): Friday, April 26, 2019

Midterm II (25% of grade): Friday, May 24, 2018

Final (40% of grade): Wednesday, June 12, 2018, 4:00pm – 6:00 pm, as listed in the Winter 2019 Websoc

Missed Exams: NO makeup exams will be given. This means that you cannot make special arrangements to take the exam earlier or later than the rest of the class. It is impossible to accommodate individual schedules and conflicts in a class of this size. Unexcused absences will count as zero.  Written documentation for an excused absence must be provided.

Regrade Policy: All midterm exams are scanned and the electronic copy will be made available to you within a few days of taking the exam. A key to each exam will be posted on the bulletin board outside of RH 563. Requests for “more partial credit” are not accepted for Chem 51C.  However, if you feel that there is a serious error on your exam, attach a note to the exam explaining clearly what you think the problem is, and return it to me within a week of the exam return date.  Submission of an exam for a regrade will result in regrading of the entire exam, with scores being lowered or raised as appropriate.

Academic Dishonesty Policy

The work you submit must be your own. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to copying answers from another student, allowing another student to copy your answers, communicating exam answers to other students during an exam, attempting to use notes or other aids during an exam, or tampering with an exam after it has been corrected and then returning it for more credit. If you do so, you will be in violation of the UCI Policies on Academic Honesty. It is your responsibility to read and understand these policies. You need to avoid even the appearance of impropriety on your exams – keep your eyes on your own exam and do not hold your exam up to look at your answers because students behind you can see your answers. Note that any instance of academic dishonesty will be reported to the student’s academic Dean for disciplinary action and can be cause for an F grade for the course. Please take a look at the new Honesty Blotter where recent incidents of academic dishonesty and their consequences are reported.

Discussion Sections

Discussion sections are an integral part of Chem 51C.  Each week, you will receive practice problems based on the current lecture material which will be worked through in discussion. Studies show that students who attend and participate in discussion do better than those who do not. You may attend any of the discussion sections listed below. Poorly attended discussion sections are subject to cancellation after announcement in class.

Discussion sections will begin Monday, April 1, 2019. I will be doing discussions indicated with an asterisk.

Days Time Bldg
Monday
 4:00 – 4:50 pm RH 188
Tuesday 9:00 – 9:50 am RH 188
Tuesday 12:00 – 12:50 pm RH 188
Wednesday 11:00 – 11:50 am PSCB 1200
Wednesday
 1:00 – 1:50 pm SH 134
Thursday 10:00 – 10:50 am RH 188
Thursday 11:00 – 11:50 am RH 188
Thursday 12:00 – 12:50 pm RH 188
Friday 11:00 – 11:50 am ALP 1700*
Friday
 1:00 – 1:50 pm ALP 1700*

Tutoring

Chemistry Department Tutoring
The Chemistry Department  Chemistry Tutoring Program  provides FREE tutoring for Organic Chemistry. Tutoring for Chem 51C is available during scheduled hours. The URL for the Chemistry Tutoring Program is http://sites.uci.edu/ochemtutors/.

LARC (Learning and Academic Resource Center, ex 4-6451)is provides Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) tutoring in small groups for $100 per quarter. Please consult the LARC website for more information (http://www.larc.uci.edu).

Communication

Email will be used to inform you of up-to-date course information. You will not receive these announcements until you are officially enrolled in the course. Please make sure your UCI account is activated and your mailbox is not full so that you can receive these emails in a timely manner. If for some reason your email is not working, an archive of Chem 51C email announcements is available for you to review.  I am available by email weekdays, and answer >95% of emails from students. Sometimes the volume of emails is so high that I can’t answer every one, and often, before a test, I will email the entire class when there are FAQ’s. Don’t forget: there is only one of me for 400 of you!

How to Succeed

Organic chemistry is very different than general chemistry.  General chemistry, like physics, is a very mathematically oriented class.  If you are good in math, you can easily do well in general chemistry. Not so with organic chemistry. It is almost all conceptual.  To do well in this class, you have to approach it in a completely different manner.  If you approach the class like you do a biology class, rewriting your class notes and memorizing everything, you are doomed for extreme frustration and failure.  Approach this class like a math class. In a math class, you learn the material by working many problems, not by copying over your notes. Proficiency in organic chemistry requires practice, practice, and very little memorization. The more problems you do, the better you will do. Confucius says it best: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”

Many students are unprepared for the cumulative nature of this class. Everything you learn in 51A & 51B will be needed for 51C. The entire year is cumulative. In 51A, we build the foundation for 51B and 51C. If you have a poor foundation, you will not be prepared for the more difficult material in 51C.  If you work many problems you will be well-prepared for 51C.

Some of you have attempted this class already and failed.  You should know that statistically, students who repeat organic chemistry, overwhelmingly get the same grade, or one grade lower the second time around.  I say this not to discourage you, but to let you know that you have to change your approach if you want to improve your grade.  One of my former students gave me the following quote which states the problem well:

“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.”

By taking a proactive, problem solving approach, you can come back and master this class. Two memorable students from a few years back took my 51B class after failing three times. They both got A+’s their 4th time around. They worked really hard, and believed in themselves, and made it happen. One of these students is now in graduate school and one is in veterinary school – I wrote letters of recommendation for both of them.

One of the best predictors of success in organic chemistry is your Mindset when you begin this class.

The following reference talks about what makes a student successful in organic chemistry: J. Chem. Educ., 2011, 88(9), pp 1238-1242. Here are some notable quotes from this reference:

“Examination of study behaviors revealed notable contrasts between high-achieving and low-achieving students. The overall reported volume of studying was similar between the two groups. However, high-achieving students engaged in certain behaviors earlier in the semester, such as seeking instructor assistance and engaging in practice problems. In contrast, low-achieving students waited until later in the semester but studied more intensively, actually surpassing high-achieving students in frequency and duration of practice problems during the third and fourth months of the semester. These results match patterns observed by previous studies, adding to a growing body of evidence that for certain study behaviors. procrastination has detrimental consequences that cannot be compensated for by belated efforts.”

“Higher-performing students tend to study earlier, not necessarily more. This pattern was observed for overall studying as well as specific behaviors such as seeking instructor assistance and engaging in practice problems. This pattern may be particularly important in organic chemistry because later topics tend to build on earlier ones. As a result, students that get behind rapidly fall outside the zone of proximal learning development, making subsequent study increasingly inefficient. Students need to front-load their study during the semester to gain the largest possible benefit for their efforts. Instructors could also encourage this behavior either explicitly or through earlier midterms and homework.”

The following additional tips should help you excel in this class:

  • Read the chapter before coming to lecture.
  • Work all of the problems throughout the chapter as you are reading it, and all of the additional assigned problems. Avoid looking up answers in the study guide until you have worked the problem! Organic chemistry is a problem solving subject. and cannot be learned passively. You will be tested on your ability to work problems, and this takes a lot of practice. It’s like tennis. You can’t learn to play tennis by memorizing a how-to book. You need daily practice. Same goes for Ochem.
  • Don’t get behind (it may be impossible to catch up)!
  • Cramming doesn’t work! Check out the Curve of Forgetting. Excellence in Ochem, like excellence in sports, is the result of cumulative skill development and daily training.
  • My exams are structured to test your understanding of the material, not on your ability to regurgitate facts. So the problems will not be taken directly out of the textbook – they will be conceptual problems that will test your critical thinking skills. Your job is to take what you have learned and apply it to new situations. If you have worked many, many practice problems you will be able to do this well.
  • Catalog your reactions (starting in chapter 7!)  This makes it easier to review before an exam so you will be ready for any synthesis problems you may encounter.
  • Come to discussion ready to work problems. This is a valuable opportunity for you to practice your problem solving and to gauge how well you are doing in the class.
  • Get extra help if you need it (ask questions, see me or one of the TAs in office hours or by appointment).
  • NOTE about sample exams: I am not making a sample exam available this quarter. Although I have in the past, I have found that it gives students a false sense of security, and it hurts test performance. What I will do instead is draw discussion problems from recent exams, so that you will get practice working these types of problems in discussion.

Why is it important for me to learn organic chemistry if I’m not going to be a chemist? 

Here are two articles that talk about why it is important for premeds to learn Ochem:

Why learn Ochem?
Premeds and organic chemistry

Future Letters of Recommendation

In the future, some of you may want to come and request a letter of recommendation for professional school (Medical School, Dental School etc.) I have an enormous number of requests, and can’t possibly agree to all of them. I limit letters to students who I have gotten to know in office hours and discussions. Professional schools do not want a letter from me telling them what you got in my class (they can see that by your transcript), and they ask specifically that I do not reword your personal statement or resume (they can just read it themselves!) So if I don’t know you, there is nothing for me to write! It is up to you to distinguish yourself from the other students in the class so that I will remember you two years down the line. Your best bet is to come to the board often in discussions, stop by office hours, and even better, tutor for one of my classes after you complete organic chemistry! The following links give guidelines for requesting a letter of recommendation.

  • Don’t email me to ask me if I can write you a letter of recommendation. Find out when I have office hours and come ask me in person.
  • If you are applying to Medical and Dental schools in June, I must have all materials listed in the guidelines below by the end of the 5th week of spring quarter.
  • After you give me the completed materials, I look over your packet and let you know if I can write you a letter of recommendation.

How to Orchestrate Letters of Recommendation
Questions for Recommendation Letter