Admission to the course.
This course is for freshmen only. Admission requires passing a special placement examination administered before the start of classes. For information on this exam see Socky Lugo (318 Havemeyer, 854-2163, lugo@chem.columbia.edu). The size of the class will be limited to about 40 students. Selection will be based on performance on the placement exam and any other information students put forward pertinent to their qualifications for admission to the class.
About the course.
The course provides an introduction to Organic Chemistry for students majoring in chemistry and related disciplines such as the health and biological sciences, earth and environmental sciences, materials sciences and Chemical Engineering. The approach emphasizes the underlying intellectual fabric of organic chemistry which employs a special form of qualitative thinking which links and organizes a broad range of information based on the ideas of molecular structure and dynamics and reaction mechanisms. Together with various forms of spectroscopy the often bewildering maze of reactions and facts that would appear to be mastered only by tedious memorization is made coherent and understandable. "Organic thinking" is approached as a special method scientific intellectual processing whereby the underlying "sameness" of many families of structures and reactions are made apparent.
More about the course
For more about the course, the viewer is invited to surf the course web page,starting with the icons on the sidebar left. The links should be self explanatory. Please address an inquires to turro@chem.columbia.edu. It is suggested that the viewer start with the syllabus and then to the "Slides and Links" which connect the chapters in the text to a slide show and to other enriching material from web sites from all over the world. Information under "Computer Configuration" provide information on how to download Plugins that allow viewing of the materials associated with the "Slides and Links". The "Supplementary Materials" icon takes the viewer to world wide web resources on chemistry in general, including a web based periodic table.