Announcements (hit the Refresh button on your browser to make sure that you are seeing the latest version of this page, and every other page on this website)
To see the new Quiz #13, Click HERE.
Quiz 13 is due Sunday Apr 21st, 6PM.
To see the answer key to Quiz #12, Click HERE.
My completed versions of the Enols/Enolates, Carboxylic Acids and Acid Derivatives notes have been loaded on the lecture notes page. You can use these to make sure that your notes have no errors or gaps. More...
Studying for the Final, some suggestions:
Don't try to study the entire semester's worth of material, you don't have time (not that most of you would have, but you know, just in case...).
You should emphasize the most recent material since the 3rd midterm, probably over half of the exam will be on that material.
Study mechanism all together so that you can see how similar they are, spend extra time on base catalyzed mechanisms because they are newer than acid catalyzed mechanisms and we haven;t used them as much yet and so they are less familiar to you.
Try the synthesis problems with lists of reactions or other completed problems in front of you. This isn't cheating, you are not yet ready to test yourself on these, you are still learning how to do them. Trying to test yourself until you really are ready to test yourself will only frustrate you right now. Use the helper materials to get through every synthesis problem (with help), and THEN, go back and test yourself, if you are ready.
Then, go to the old exams and practice exams to see what is likely to be on the exam from earlier in the semester, decide what you need to go back and study based on what trying those problems tell you.
And start EARLY!
The computer failed for today's lecture, and so I re-recorded it at my desk, which is why it is somewhat shorter than 50 minutes. More...
The results for midterm #3 have now been posted on the Your Points > Exam Scores page. More...
You will have noticed that there are no practice exams for the final exam on the homework site this semester, I have these practice exams in the form of a pdf file instead, links are given below. In these practice exams I have deleted some questions that were not covered this semester.
To access the four practice exams in a single pdf file, Click HERE
To access the answer keys in a single pdf file, Click HERE.
To see the new Quiz #12, Click HERE.
Quiz 11 is due Sunday Apr 14th, 6PM.
To see the answer key to Quiz #11, Click HERE.
There will be NO benzene nomenclature on the midterm tomorrow, but there COULD be an aldehyde/ketone nomenclature problem.
To see a recording of today's review session, Click HERE.
In place of the first review session that I had to skip today, Click HERE to see a recorded one.
There was an error in Question 5 in Quiz 11, this has just ben corrected (8PM Friday), and so if you downloaded the quiz before 8PM please take a look at the latest version of Question 5, or, Click HERE to see the corrected version of Question 5.
To see the new Quiz #11, Click HERE.
Quiz 11 is due Sunday Apr 7th, 6PM.
To see the answer key to Quiz #10, Click HERE.
This afternoon I have yet another scheduling problem, a last minute important meeting has come up which means that I will have to cancel my usual review session this afternoon. I am so sorry about this, my schedule this week has been a nightmare. I mentioned in class that I would try to re-schedule the review session for later this morning, but I see now that just won't work, it is just too short notice. Therefore, I will RECORD a review session and post it later this evening. So sorry!
There WILL be a review session tomorrow afternoon, 3:30 - 5:00 as scheduled. The review session on Saturday will be in LSE-106.
My completed versions of the Benzenes and Aldehydes/Ketones notes have been loaded on the lecture notes page. You can use these to make sure that your notes have no errors or gaps. To see a complete version of the small part of the notes from Enols/Enolates for the 3rd midterm, Click HERE More...
There will be two pre-test review sessions. The first will be Friday April 5th, 3:30 - 5:00PM, location to be announced. The second will be Saturday April 6th, 3:30 - 5:00PM, location to be announced. Both will cover different topics and both will be recorded.
You will have noticed that there are no practice exams for midterm #3 on the homework site this semester, I have these practice exams in the form of a pdf file instead, links are given below. In these practice exams you can ignore any question that asks you about nomenclature of substituted benzenes.
To access the four practice exams in a single pdf file, Click HERE
To access the answer keys in a single pdf file, Click HERE.
You can ignore any questions on Wittig reactions you find on these practice exams.
As I indicated in class on Friday, unfortunately I have to go out of town on Monday and Wednesday next week. Normally I try to make sure that I never go out of town during the semester, but I just can't avoid this.
Therefore, I have recorded Monday's and Wednesday's lectures, they are now on the class website under "Recorded Lectures". Each one covers roughly the same amount of material as a regular 50 minute class, but each is shorter than 50 minutes since I always cover more material when sitting at my desk compared to class.
I also have to cancel office hours on Mon, Tues Wed also, sorry. Therefore, I will have an extra office hours 9AM-10AM on Thursday morning, April 4th.
The material for the next exam will go through to the end of the Relative Acidities of Carbonyls, i.e. to the end of page 4 of the Enols/Enolates Notes, or, until minute 9:30 in Lecture #31, and, the subsection "Enolizable Hydrogens" in the "Enols and Enolates" section on the homework site.
There was an error in the original version of Quiz #10, now corrected as of 9:20PM, Wed. Mar 27th. Make sure you have the latest version of the quiz. Question #4 should be labelled mc33l, not mc33m, alternatively, Questions 4 and 5 should be different!. To see the new Quiz #10, Click HERE.
To see the new Quiz #10, Click HERE.
Quiz 10 is due Sunday Mar 31st, 6PM.
To see the answer key to Quiz #9, Click HERE.
The results for midterm #2 have now been posted on the Your Points > Exam Scores page. More...
To see the new key to Quiz #9, Click HERE.
Today's lecture suffered a technical problem, no sound was recorded :( And so I re-recorded it at my desk, which is why the sound quality is a bit poor, and why it is somewhat shorter than 50 minutes. More...
To see the answer key to Quiz #8, Click HERE.
To see the recording of today's (Saturday) review session for midterm #2, Click HERE.
To see the recording of today's (Friday) review session for midterm #2, Click HERE.
The first review session for midterm #2 will be Today, Mar 15th, 3:30-5:00PM, in PS F-123. The second review session will be tomorrow, Saturday Mar 16th, also 3:30PM - 5:00PM, also in PS F-123. The topics will be different for the 2 sessions. Both will be recorded and the recordings will be posted on the class website.
To see the new Quiz #8 Click HERE.
Quiz 8 is due Sunday Mar 17th, 6PM.
My completed versions of the Aromatic notes have been loaded on the lecture notes page. You can use these to make sure that your notes have no errors or gaps. More...
You will have noticed that there are no practice exams for midterm #2 on the homework site this semester, I have these practice exams in the form of a pdf file instead, links are given below. In these practice exams you can ignore any question that asks you about nomenclature of substituted benzenes.
To access the four practice exams in a single pdf file, Click HERE
To access the answer keys in a single pdf file, Click HERE
Ignore any benzene nomenclature questions you see in these practice tests, benzene nomenclature will not be on the next test.
The material for the second midterm will go through to the end of the Aromaticity Section of the notes
The Current Points page been updated with your midterm #1 scores after all regrades, Click HERE. The regraded exam scores have NOT been updated on This Page, but ONLY on the Current Points page, HERE
Please check to make sure there are no errors.
The Current Points page been updated with your scores for the first seven quizzes, Q1 - Q7, Click HERE.
Please check to make sure there are no errors.
In lecture today we learned a method of solving electrocyclic reactions using our "fingers and thumbs". To see how to do this, Click HERE.
You can also solve these problems using a molecular model kit. To see how to do this, Click HERE.
To see the answer key to Quiz #7, Click HERE.
there is NO QUIZ THIS WEEK, ENJOY THE BREAK!
My completed versions of the Organometals, Ethers/Epoxides and the Conjugated Systems notes have been loaded on the lecture notes page. You can use these to make sure that your notes have no errors or gaps. More...
To see the new Quiz #7, Click HERE.
Quiz 7 is due Sunday Feb 24th, 6PM.
To see the answer key to Quiz #6, Click HERE.
To see a short video on how to better understand the Diels-Alder reaction, Click HERE
Unfortunately, I have to cancel office hours tomorrow, Friday Feb 22nd, apologies.
The results for midterm #1 have now been posted on the Your Points > Exam Scores page. More...
To see the new Quiz #6, Click HERE.
Quiz 6 is due Sunday Feb 17th, 6PM.
To see the answer key to Quiz #5, Click HERE.
IMPORTANT: In trying to help by summarizing a list of reaction types for which you will need to know the mechanisms of, I seemed to have caused confusion. This is a list of reaction TYPES for which you will need to now how to write the mechanisms, this is NOT a list of the reactions you need to know. You need to know ALL of the reactions we have studied, meaning you know how to give the products of those reactions, or, given the products, you know the reagents/conditions required to give those products.
To see the recording of today's (Saturday) review session, Click HERE.
To see the recording of today's (Friday) review session, Click HERE.
The first review session for midterm #1 will be Friday, Feb 8th, 3:30-5:00PM, in PS F-101. The second review session will be Saturday Feb 9th, also 3:30PM - 5:00PM, also in PS F-101. The topics will be different for the 2 sessions. Both will be recorded and the recordings will be posted on the class website.
Material for the first midterm: This class is heading towards building your understanding of organic chemical reactions such that you know how they work well enough that yo can understand a reaction that you have never seen before, We are not there yet! In the mean time is is reasonable that you would want to now what kind of mechanism problem you might be expected to solve. For a summary of reaction TYPES that summarize the kinds of mechanism problem you might encounter on an exam, Click HERE. You will NOT be asked to draw the mechanism of any of the exact reactions included in this summary, the summary tells you of the TYPE of reaction mechanism you might see, but you could see this mechanism in many different contexts, including some that are harder than on this summary. As usual, check the practice and old exams for example actual mechanism problems.
FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO LEARN ALL OF THE REAGENTS?
1. Solve as many homework problems with a list or lists of the reactions spread out in front of you so that you don't continually get stuck, you really need to do as many homework problems as possible, and getting stuck is very bad.
2. Use the reaction lists to help you solve the homework problem, if you still can't do it, don't be afraid to look at the answer, this is part of learning JUST SO LONG AS YOU PROPERLY RECORD THAT YOU NEED TO GO BACK AND TRY THAT PROBLEM AGAIN (i.e. either the system records incorrect for you, or you hit the button that says "I need more practice", or you "star" the problem).
3. When doing the homework you should be writing as much as possible on paper as you work, for example, don't just enter the reagents in the reagents box in the question screen, write them out on paper before you do that, and ESPECIALLY, write them out on paper again if you get the problem wrong.
4. In the process of doing this you will find that you are learning at least the more common and simple ones (think about NBS/light, everybody knows that one!), but some of the more tricky ones with non-obvious reagents you will still struggle with, don't be afraid of that, you should expect that.
5. THEN, go to the lists of reactions and COVER UP the reagents and see how many you get correct, if correct then you are done with that reaction, make it so, if incorrect then you are not done, mark it incorrect, for most people some will be correct and some will be incorrect. Try to go through only the incorrect ones again and try to "get" them, but don't make any reaction correct unless you are SURE about it.
6. Then go back to the problems and repeat the cycle until a few hours before the exam, then power memorize the remaining incorrect ones!
Material for the first midterm: The first midterm will cover everything from elimination reaction to the end of the Alcohols section of the notes, there will be no organometals on the exam. The organometals problems in the practice exams on the homework site have been switched to "non-credit" questions, do not do those problems. There are NO ELIMINATION questions on the practice exams, but MAKE SURE that you know how to solve elimination problems of the kind given on the homework site!
There will be two pre-test review sessions. The first will be Friday, the exact time and location to be announced. The second will be Saturday, 3PM - 5PM, location to be announced. The topics will be different for the 2 sessions. Both will be recorded and the recordings will be posted on the class website.
My completed versions of the Alkynes and the Alcohols notes have been loaded on the lecture notes page. You can use these to make sure that your notes have no errors or gaps. More...
To see the new Quiz #5, Click HERE.
Quiz 5 is due Sunday Feb 10th, 6PM.
To see the answer key to Quiz #4, Click HERE.
The Current Points page been updated with your scores for the first four quizzes, Q1 - Q4, Click HERE.
Please check to make sure there are no errors.
To see the new Quiz #4, Click HERE.
Quiz 4 is due Sunday Feb 3rd, 6PM.
To see the answer key to Quiz #3, Click HERE.
Apologies for the delay in getting information out of this, but I had thought that I would come up with something different for honors contracts this semester, but that didn't materialize, so, the options for honors contracts similar to last semester, Click HERE.
More...
The Current Points page been updated with your scores for the first three quizzes, Q1 - Q3, Click HERE.
Please check to make sure there are no errors.
To see the answer key to Quiz #3, Click HERE.
The Current Points page been updated with your scores for the first three quizzes, Q1 - Q3. midterm #1 scores after all regrades, Click HERE.
Please check to make sure there are no errors.
Question #6 is deleted from Quiz #3. All answers to this problem will be considered correct!
The version of Quiz #3 that was posted on Jan 24th had an error, and also the one that was posted at 10AM on Jan25th. The version posted on here at 11AM on Jan 25th is (finally) correct! If you have downloaded the quiz pdf file previously, please make sure that you download the corrected version since your browser may have cached the older one, the correct version of the quiz has the words CORRECTED VERSION in BLUE TEXT at the top of the first page. Apologies for the errors, I think that they are all fixed now!To see the final corrected Quiz #3 (with the text CORRECTED VERSION in BLUE TEXT at the top of the first page), Click HERE.
To see the new Quiz #3, Click HERE.
Quiz 3 is due Sunday Jan 27th, 6PM.
To see the answer key to Quiz #2, Click HERE.
OFFICE HOURS this Semester: I usually have office hours 1-2PM on Mondays, However, this semester I have another commitment at that time, and so Monday office hours are 8:30AM - 9:30AM. Now, I just realized that I forgot to update the syllabus to reflect this (I have updated the version of the syllabus on this website). So please correct you copy of the syllabus to reflect these different Monday office hours times, thanks! More...
My completed versions of the Elimination Reactions and the Retrosynthesis notes have been loaded on the lecture notes page. You can use these to make sure that your notes have no errors or gaps. More...
To see the new Quiz #2, Click HERE.
Quiz 2 is due Sunday Jan 20th, 6PM.
To see the answer key to Quiz #1, Click HERE.
The Quiz Submit link is now open, to see how the quizzes work in this class Click HERE
Quiz #1, a syllabus quiz, must be submitted by the end of the day tomorrow, Tuesday Jan 15th, after that, ALL quizzes will be due at 6PM each SUNDAY. I will post Quiz #2, which will be a chemistry quiz on Wednesday.
To see Quiz #1, Click HERE.
Quiz #1 must be submitted by the end of the day TUESDAY January 15th (i.e. before 11:59PM). The quiz submission tab at the top of this page will not be functional until Monday January 14th, i.e. after the drop/add deadline, and it will not open until around the middle of the day, I will post an announcement here. And so you should do the quiz and then be prepared to submit it next Tuesday but do NOT try to submit it before next Tuesday since the roster will not be loaded.
The second lecture has been posted on the recorded lectures page. I will not be announcing this on the main class web page fro each lecture from now on, please just go straight to the Recorded Lectures page, thanks! More...
The first lecture has been posted on the recorded lectures page. More...
Please note that in some versions of the syllabus in the Schedule towards the end there is a typo, the date of the final exam is given as April 28th, when in fact it should be April 29th!
The class website is now open, please take a look at the following videos for more information on how the course works:
Click HERE to See How the homework site works, Spring 2019
Click HERE to see How the gapped lecture notes work
Click HERE for an Introduction and How the class works, Spring 2019
Click HERE for Additional information for online/HYBRID class students, Spring 2019
This second semester class will start in an unusual way for me. Last semester we got quite a bit behind and we didn't finish the substitutions/eliminations section of the notes, we covered substitutions but not eliminations. Therefore, before we start the normal material for CHM 234, we need to finish off the eliminations section of the notes from CHM 233. Those students who took my CHM 233 class last semester, you will use the CHM 233 gapped notes you have for this, please BRING THEM TO CLASS on Monday Jan 7th! On the first day of class we will do a very quick review of substitutions and then get into the gapped elimination notes you already have.
The students who were NOT in my fall CHM 233 class will NEED A COPY of the gapped notes for elimination, to get a copy of these, Click HERE.
For the rest of the semester, ALL students will need a copy of the CHM 234 gapped notes, these are now available for purchase at the ASU bookstore.
For a copy of the course syllabus, Click HERE.
I will bring hard copies of the Elimination Reaction gapped notes and also the syllabus to class tomorrow, 7:30AM January 7th, but it will be more convenient for you if you can bring your own copies.
The class has a Facebook group page. I understand that not everybody likes to use Facebook, but this group has been quite successful in the past, Facebook allows very easy access, and when I ask the class if we should move away from Facebook the answer is always no. And so I encourage you join and to ask questions there, since everybody gets to see the answers, which therefore makes the questions useful to the entire class. Click HERE to access the group.
The syllabus is the same for both the regular/onground and the hybrid classes. To get a copy of the syllabus and class schedule, click HERE.
This class uses "gapped notes". You MUST buy a copy of these from the bookstore, they take the place of a textbook, which is not required for this class. The notes for the first few lectures are NOT part of the gapped notes package, to get a copy of these, Click HERE, or, if you were in my Fall 2018 CHM 233 class, you can use your CHM 233 gapped notes.
This class does NOT use a textbook. Textbooks are good for reference, but I strongly believe that they are not very good for teaching and learning. Your lecture notes should give you all of the information you need, and you can only learn organic chemistry by doing organic chemistry, not by reading it in a textbook. This class places a lot of emphasis the homework site, this is where you do organic chemistry and this is where you learn organic chemistry.
You do, however, need a copy of the Gapped Notes, see above.
Welcome to a new semester! The first class is Monday, Jan 7th. I will distribute hard copies of the syllabus and a small version of the gapped notes that should last the first few lectures.
I will not go over the syllabus/policies in class on Monday, most of you will know these from the first semester class.
Instead I made a video introduction to the class, click HERE
To see a video with information specific to the HYBRID class, click HERE
To see a video showing how the gapped notes work, click HERE
To see a video showing how the homework system works, click HERE
Do NOT attempt to submit the first quiz until you see an announcement on this web page.
I look forward to working with you all this semester!
I'd Like Some More Help...