CHE 331 laid the basic foundation of organic chemistry, and CHE 332 introduced a variety of additional reactions, mechanisms, and topics. CHE 333 continues to build on this foundation, with an emphasis on molecules and reactions of biological, medical, and/or environmental interest.
The purpose of this course series is to foster critical thinking skills via an inquiry into the molecular mechanisms that underlie natural processes. Relying on rote memorization will not yield good results in this (or any) organic chemistry course. Rather, the successful student will work to understand the key concepts of organic chemistry; these central principles can then be applied to novel, often real-world, examples and scenarios.
The course also includes a laboratory section, whose purpose is to illustrate and reinforce concepts from the lecture and to demonstrate important laboratory techniques and equipment.
Choose an organic chemistry topic that is of interest to you – a particular pharmaceutical drug or biomolecule, an ingredient in a food or a personal care product, a pesticide or herbicide (synthetic or organic), a pollutant of concern, etc. …. Perform research using peer-reviewed journal articles, popular science articles, government databases, and educational resources to learn more about the topic, and prepare a 10 (±2) minute oral PowerPoint presentation on the topic.
Topics:
Your presentation can be on pretty much any topic that relates to organic chemistry. Peer-reviewed “review articles” are an excellent source, as are topics that have recently been in the news.
Your presentation can cover a wide range of topics (biological, physiological, environmental, etc), but should include significant organic chemistry content. This might include:
the structure(s) of the compound(s) of interest
major functional groups of your compound
protonation state (e.g., at physiological pH)
chemical properties of the molecule (solubility, acidity, etc),
the mechanism of action (e.g., of a pharmaceutical drug, biomolecule, or pesticide)
the laboratory synthesis scheme of your compound(s) of interest
the eventual fate of your compound (excretion from the body? breakdown in the body or environment? bioaccumulation somewhere? etc)
In all cases (particularly for “simple” facts like the structure, functional groups, chemical properties, etc), try to show how these facts/properties help us understand the molecule’s purpose or activity.