Entry requirements

120 credits with 60 credits in chemistry including 10 credits in organic chemistry. Participation in Spectroscopy and NMR spectroscopy I (these courses can be taken in parallel to Organic chemistry III). Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• critically evaluate and select advanced methods for synthetically relevant transformations,
• apply mechanistic and stereochemical concepts for prediction of  chemo-, regio-, and stereoselectivity of the reactions,
• plan and use experimental setups for various types of transformations as well as separation, purification and identification of reaction products,
• perform risk assessments of experiments and document laboratory work in the form of a laboratory journal,
• give oral and written accounts of planned and performed experiments.

Content

Selected synthetically important reaction classes (e.g. radical cyclizations, 1,2-additions, enolate additions, and pericyclic reactions) and their mechanisms. Application of transition state theory, stereoelectronics, FMO (Frontier Molecular Orbital) theory, and other concepts to understand and predict the reaction outcomes. Problem solving exercises dealing with the course content in a tutorial seminar.

Laboratory training including carrying out reactions under inert gas atmosphere using air and moisture sensitive reagents; the handling of advanced laboratory equipment; performing short linear reaction sequences and purifying reaction products using established methods, including flash column chromatography; analysis of the reaction outcomes; documentation and interpretation of the results in written form.

In connection to the practical sessions, students are to give oral accounts on their preparation work .

Instruction

Lectures, seminars and laboratory practicals.

Assessment

Written examination (5 credits). Laboratory exercises, including pre-lab oral session, seminars and written reports (5 credits). The final grade is a weighted sum of the results of the examination and the practical laboratory exercises. 

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.