Course Overview

Don’t let organic chemistry intimidate you. Stick to your plan to major in chemistry, the B.S. in Biology, or future professional school major. Many students, however, have to repeat Organic Chemistry I, CHEM 2131, which can negatively impact your time to degree and your GPA.

This Organic Primer Course will help you to differentiate between the concepts that require memorization and which topics require comprehension of process. Both of these learning methods are required for mastery and for success in organic chemistry. For the target population, real-time instruction, practice, and assessment can more quickly and more efficiently elucidate misconceptions that may have been learned in previous attempts in organic or general chemistry.

This program is designed to bridge between general chemistry concepts and their applications in organic chemistry. Spend three weeks learning in a small group setting with your peers who, like you, are determined to be successful in CHEM 2131. Let Dr. Richard Jew, a General Chemistry instructor and organic chemistry enthusiast, guide you through ways of deconstructing the mysteries of organic chemistry.

Program Goals
The organic chemistry primer course aims to:

• Review and strengthen mastery and retention of essential general chemistry concepts;
• Apply general chemistry concepts to organic chemistry examples to bridge learning;
• Preview and practice foundational organic topics that lead to learning bottlenecks; and
• Increase cognizance of effective study methods and time on topic required for success.

Program Schedule

• Monday - Thursday, July 22 - August 8, 2019
• Monday - Thursday, 6:00PM - 9:00PM

Course Target Population
This course primarily targets three groups:

Students who earned a B or C in CHEM 1252 (General Chem II) in spring and are taking CHEM 2131 (Organic Chem I) in fall
Students who are repeating CHEM 2131 (Organic Chem I) in fall
Transfer students who have taken general chemistry at a different institution
Any college student who desires a deeper understanding of the connections between general chemistry and organic chemistry.

Course Outline

Spend two weeks learning in a small group setting with your peers who, like you, are determined to be successful in CHEM 2131. Let Dr. Richard Jew, a General Chemistry instructor and organic chemistry enthusiast, guide you through ways of deconstructing the mysteries of organic chemistry.

Week 1: Review and remediation

• Lewis structures
• VSEPR and bond angles
• rotating 3-D structures in space and in drawing
• hybridization with orbital diagrams
• acids and bases, equilibrium position

The first week aims to review key topics from general chemistry and apply them to commonly observed organic chemistry methodology. The review aims to help you deepen your comprehension of those topics, as deepening the understanding of root causes will enable you to keep applying these foundational pieces to new material that is introduced later in organic chemistry.

Week 2: Establishing organic fundamentals

• nomenclature of alkanes and alkenes
• line-angle notation, number of hydrogens at each junction
• structural and geometric isomers
• functional group identification
• arrow pushing with acid/base reactions and resonance
• identifying nucleophiles and electrophiles
• simple addition and substitution reactions

The second week demonstrates the speed at which topics in organic chemistry must be mastered and immediately applied to new topics. The first week’s material will be revisited as foundations that establish the structural and reactive features of organic chemicals. The few organic topics introduced will examine, exhaustively, all of the critical facets of a molecule that you should immediately recognize.

The topics chosen have proven to be bottlenecks that restrict success in later material. For example, if you cannot rotate molecules in space, you will not be able to recognize if and what kind of stereoisomer they can generate. While some topics, like types of stereoisomers, are themselves difficult and require additional study, we will focus on the essential stepping stones needed to begin the process of analysis in organic chemistry.

Week 3: Application of techniques

• basic nomenclature with functional groups
• multi-step reaction mechanisms
• carbonyl bond changes with nucleophilic attack
• mechanisms following (+) or (-) charges
• cyclohexane ring chair conformation
• tenets of synthesis and retrosynthesis

The third week utilizes the fundamental concepts from Week 2 and demonstrates how they apply to all organic chemistry problems.  Special attention will be given to how to start and approach problem solving, which factual inventories are useful to keep, and techniques to troubleshooting when you are lost within a problem.  These approaches will be tested through a variety of examples, but do not constitute a comprehensive view of all problem types that will be encountered.

Additional Information

Location

UNC Charlotte campus. Experience life as a 49er! Smart classrooms, study groups, and on-campus dining. Meeting location for opening session will be sent via email.

Prerequisites

This program is for students who have completed a course in general chemistry and who are preparing for organic chemistry. The course textbook is required and should be ordered by July 13.

To Register

The cost of the program is $295. The fee includes instruction over the 12-day program, welcome dinner on Monday, July 29, and on-campus parking. You may choose to pay $295 in full at the time of registration or pay a $50 deposit (refundable up to 9 days prior to the course start date) to hold your seat in the class. The invoiced remaining balance of $245 is due 10 days prior to the course start date (7/12/19).

If you choose the deposit option, an invoice for the remaining balance and due date will be emailed to you. Any time prior to the due date, you may pay the remaining balance via credit card by logging into your Student Profile or by calling our Registration Center at 704-687-8900. If this is your first time registering via the Continuing Education website, you may set up a new account during the checkout process.

Registration/Refund/Cancellation Policies

Refunds

The $50 deposit will hold your space until 10 days before the start of the course when the balance is due. Individuals who have not paid their remaining balance by the due date will forfeit their seat in the course and receive a refund of the deposit and any payments made towards the course registration fee up to that point.

If a refund is requested, payment refunds of the deposit and registration fee will be made up to 5 days (7/17/19) before the start of the course. After that, no refunds can be made.

For Registration Questions:
Please call the Registration Center at 704-687-8900 or 1-877-741-0134 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or email CEregistration@uncc.edu.

For Curriculum Questions:
Contact Dr. Richard Jew at richard.jew@uncc.edu