How to be a successful organic chemist is meant as an introductory text for undergraduates taking organic chemistry teaching labs. The text is a clear and practical introduction to safety, chemical handling, organic chemistry techniques, and lab reports.

The text is divided into three parts. Preparation, execution and analysis.

Chapter 1 – 3 is all about the preparation. We will cover how to prepare for the labs, all the important safety features of working in a lab environment, and the most important laboratory techniques encountered.

Chapter 4 is about the execution of the experiment. We will investigate why experiments fail, and how to reach a deeper understanding in the labs.

Chapter 5 and 6 is all about the analysis. We will look at data, how to interpret data, and how to put it all together in a logical and scientifically sound way.

This is the first course taken in a two sequence Organic Chemistry Course for science majors.

This course examines the behavior of hydrocarbons and their derivatives. Topics covered include alkanes, halides, alcohols, alkynes and stereochemistry.

Upon completion of this course the student will be able to perform the following: (1) Name organic compounds using both the IUPAC and Common System, (2) Determine the Stereochemistry of a compound, (3) Predict the products that will be formed from specific reactions, (4) Predict how changes in the structure of a compound can influence physical properties and reactivity, and (5) Understand the Importance of Mechanisms.

This course is designed for students majoring in a STEM area. It is the second sequence organic chemistry course.

This course examines the behavior of hydrocarbons and their derivatives. Topics covered include alcohols, alkynes, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, carboxylic acid derivatives, amines, and aromatic compounds.

Upon completion of this course the student will be able to perform the following: (1) Name organic compounds using both the IUPAC and Common System, (2) Determine the Stereochemistry of a compound, (3) Predict the major and minor products that will be formed from specific reactions, (4) Predict how modifications in chemical structure, including stereochemistry, can drastically change the physical and/or chemical behavior of compounds, and (5) Provide the mechanism for specific types of reactions.

This resource was created by Lisa Nichols (chemistry faculty at Butte Community College in Northern California) as a result of an academic sabbatical leave in the Fall-2015 to Spring 2016 term. The target audience are undergraduate students in organic chemistry.

In this resource you will find theory and procedures on the main organic lab techniques (chromatography, crystallization, extraction, distillation) as well as general concepts on how to set up and heat apparatuses (see the Table of Contents tab for a more complete listing of topics).

All procedures are accompanied by step-by-step pictures, and graphics are heavily utilized throughout the resource.

Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon and carbon-containing compounds. Since the core structural, catalytic, information storage, and retrieval systems of organisms are carbon-based macromolecules, organic chemistry is of direct relevance to the life sciences. Just as importantly, the properties of carbon make possible an amazing range of molecules with unique properties, from small molecules to complex plastics and even more complex biomolecules.

The essence of organic chemistry is how carbon atoms interact with other atoms and groups of atoms to produce an astounding array of complex and interesting molecules. The basics of bonding and intermolecular interactions are introduced in the general chemistry version of CLUE (Chemistry, Life, the Universe & Everything), along with how the structure of a molecule affects its properties, how the energy changes associated with chemical and physical changes can be predicted and explained, and how chemical systems can be stabilized or perturbed by changing conditions. These four core ideas (structure-property relationships, bonding and interactions, energy, and stability, and change) are continued on into OCLUE and are deepened and expanded as we discover and explain ever more complex chemical systems.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Acid–Base Reactions
Chapter 2: Spectroscopy: how we know what we know about the structure of matter
Chapter 3: Conformations and Configurations: the consequences of the three- dimensional nature of carbon compounds.
Chapter 4: Nucleophilic Substitution Part II
Chapter 5: Alkenes and Alkynes
Chapter 6: Alcohols and an introduction to thiols, amines, ethers & sulfides
Chapter 7: Nucleophilic attack at the carbonyl carbon:
Chapter 9: A return to the carbonyl

A free, open-access organic chemistry textbook (volumes I and II) in which the main focus is on relevance to biology and medicine. This is a PDF version of a wiki project called Chemwiki at the University of California, Davis. There are also supplementary materials, such as PowerPoint slides and a solutions manual available for this textbook at the Chemwiki website.