CH 242, Spring 1999

Jeff Byers, SC 525, x5207 Official Office Hours, T, Th 11-12 am, or any time you find me.

Web Page for most important information: cweb.middlebury.edu/s99/ch242a or www.middlebury.edu/~byers and look for the ch242 link in the text. Some material will also be placed in the server account for the course.

Last Year's Exams on reserve in Science Center Library- Ask for "Old Exams". Also available on course server account (NOT web site).

Answers to exams you actually take and "homemade" problem sets available on reserve in Science Center Library- Ask for "Answers".

Crude Schedule: I reserved the right to accelerate or decelerate the schedule as the material and class demand.

Rest of Ch 8,9,12 - 2/9, 2/11, 2/16

Nucleophilic attack at Ketones and Aldehydes CH 13 - 2/18,2/23,2/25,3/2

Basic Carbohydrate Chemistry CH 25.1- 25.4B - 3/4

Carboxylic acids and their derivatives, incl. Peptide Cleavage CH 14,15 - 3/9,3/11,3/16

Carbonyl-stabilized carbanions ("enolates") CH 16 3/18

SPRING BREAK! SPRING SKIING -BEACH BUMMING-GETTING SOME SLEEP?

Ch 16 continued 3/30, 4/1 No Class (JUST KIDDING! APRIL FOOL!), 4/6

Conjugate Addition CH 18.1,18.2 - 4/8

Heteroatom-stabilized carbanions CH 18.3,18.4- 4/13

Polyenes CH 17 - 4/15 (All College Meeting Night! Come have a good meal with the Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry!) , 4/20

Aromaticity, Benzene Reactions CH 19, 23.3, 23.4, 23.5 - 4/22, 4/27, 4/29

Synthesis of Amines CH 22.3, 22.4 - 5/4, 5/6

Midterm Exams, 7:00 pm Tues 2/23 (Rms 117,125), Tues Mar 30 (Rms 117, 123), Tues 4/20 (Rms 123,117) (14% each)

CUMULATIVE FINAL EXAM Tuesday, May 11 9:00 am (28%)

5-minute quizzes End of Prelab, every Mon. on non-test weeks (5% total)

Prelabs Mon, 8:00 am or 2:35 pm THESE ARE NOT OPTIONAL!

Laboratory Tues. Wed. afternoon (25%)

Other Vital Info:

Midterm Exams will be designed to take about 2 hours, but I will let you take up to 3 hours. Unlike last semester, all tests count! Postponement of exams for individuals will usually be allowed for the following reasons; serious personal illness, death in the family, conflict with intercollegiate athletics, or direct time conflict with other academic requirements, such as exams, required movies and performances, etc. I will never grant postponements if you have other exams or papers due on the same day at a different time - so don't even ask! I am letting you know when exams are far enough in advance that it will be your responsibility to plan accordingly. However, if some other conflict not of the type listed above arises, I'm may be willing to let people take tests early. The final exam will be cumulative in nature, and designed to take 3 hours. Only a Dean's excuse will be acceptable for rescheduling.

Brief quizzes, usually involving multiple choice or short answer questions will be given at the end of every Monday prelab in "non-exam" weeks. These quizzes serve several purposes: They will give you regular feedback on your progress, and force you to keep up with the material on a regular basis, thus facilitating your studying for the longer, more important exams. Finally, while I am not a believer in multiple choice tests, for most of the people in the class, the only way your knowledge of organic chemistry will ever be assessed is through standardized tests such as MCAT's and GRE's. Thus, this will provide at least a little idea of what these tests are like. In fact, many of the questions I use come directly from standardized exams. If you fail to attend the prelab, and do not have one of the aforementioned accepted excuses, you will get a zero for the quiz.

I do not collect or grade problem sets. I find that my generously available, but alas, limited time (or the time of a grader/tutor) is better spent helping those who are having real difficulties in CH242, rather than grading problem sets. Yes, I know Rick didn't do things this way, but hey - CH 241 was his course, CH 242 is mine! The problems which are listed for each unit from Ege comprise a "minimum set" in which I've gone through and culled out those which I think are either highly repetetive or dumb. If you do not own the answer guide, a copy is on reserve in the Science Center Library - Use it conservatively. If you're having a hard time, I recommend that you do more problems than assigned. I also will frequently assign additional problems, usually of my own creation, which are particularly diagnostic for you to use for self assessment.

Lab Schedule	Assignments	Handouts	Diagnostic Problems
Valuable chem links	Fun chem links