CHEM 232 Syllabus, Spring 2009

For a pdf version, download syllabus on the File Sharing page.

1. Course Info, Registration & Prerequisites
2. Instructor Contact Information
3. Office Hours
4. Required & Recommended Resources
5. Website
6. Assessment
7. Course Curve
8. Disability Statement
9. Religious Holidays Statement
10. Course Policies
11. Academic Dishonesty
12. Chapaters Covered from Organic Chemistry by F. Carey
13. Tentative Schedule


1. Course Info, Registration & Prerequisites
Title: Organic Chemistry I
CRN: 28574
Credit: 4 hours
Lecture: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 9:30-10:45 a.m., 250 SES
Exams: Evenings, 6 p.m.; 250 SES; Schedule TBA

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2. Instructor Contact Information
Dr. Chad L. Landrie
Office Room: 2210A SEL
Office Phone: (312) 996-3178
Email: clandr1@uic.edu
URL: www.chandlandrie.com



Students may also contact me through a variety of instant messaging clients, particularly during office hours. For a list of IM clients in use, visit Chad Landrie's home page.

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3. Office Hours
Regularly scheduled office hours will be held Monday – Friday, 12 – 2 pm. Students who cannot attend during this time may send me an email to request an appointment. Although I will guarantee my availability during the above hours, I am also usually available at other times for walk-ins.

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4. Required & Recommended Resources
All required resources are available for purchase at the UIC bookstore. i>Clickers may also be purchased from third parties, new or used, or borrowed from friends not using the clicker during that particular semester.

1. Required: Carey, F. Organic Chemistry, 7th ed.; McGraw Hill: Boston, 2008.

2. Required: i>Clicker; MacMillan (www.iclicker.com); ISBN: 0716779390.

3. Required: OWL registration code (online homework). Free registration codes & information will be provided during the first week of class.

4.Recommended: Molecular model set.


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5. Website
The URL for the course website is www.chadlandrie.com. The site will be under continual construction this semester. Some of the current content includes course descriptions; instructor profiles; TA information; OWL instructions; i>clicker instructions and statistics; resources for the laboratory course (CHEM 233); lecture notes; and shared files available for download including rubrics, sample exams and manuals. A salient feature of the website will hopefully be the blog, complete with comment capability. While the blog will function primarily as an announcement board, I also expect it to grow into a platform for initiating interesting discussions in chemistry.

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6. Assessment
The course will be graded according to individual performance on each of the following assessment items:

a. OWL homework will be assigned for every chapter and must be completed by the deadlines listed in this syllabus (Section B.13). At the end of the semester, the accrued number of OWL points will be converted to a scale with a total of 100 course points (10%). Quizzes and exam questions will be based, in part, on OWL homework.

b. The i>clicker will be used in most of the lectures this semester; it will not be used during discussion sections. Generally, 2-5 questions will be asked during each lecture to reinforce a concept just covered or to determine if I have done a sufficient job of explaining a topic. These questions will appear on the projector screen as part of the lecture slides. One point will be awarded to each student that answers the question; one additional point will be given for the correct answer. The questions may be reviewed later by downloading the lecture slides from the course website or by viewing the i>clicker page within the course website (tentative). At the end of the semester, the
accrued number of i>clicker points will be converted to a scale with a total of 50 course points (5%).

c. Most weeks, a quiz will be given during your discussion section. A minimum of twelve quizzes, each worth 15 points will be given; however, only the highest 10 scores will be counted for a total of 150 points (15%). The quizzes will test your mastery of topics presented in previous lectures, assigned readings, OWL homework and i>clicker questions. Since at least two of the lowest quiz scores will be dropped, no makeup quizzes will be given for any student, for any reason.

d. Three exams will be given, each worth 150 points for a total of of 450 points (45%). The exams will cover material presented during lecture as well as assigned readings. Question formats will include drawing reactants or products in reaction schemes; multiple choice; short answer; essay; drawing reaction mechanisms.

e. The final exam is worth 250 points (25%) and is comprehensiv. The format of the exam will be similar to the three semester exams.

Item Points   No.   Total Points
OWL Homework 100 x 1 = 100
i>clicker 50 x 1 = 50
Quizzes 15 x 10 = 150
Exams 150 x 3 = 450
Final Exam 250 x 1 = 250
Course Total         1000




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7. Course Curve
This course will be curved at the end of the semester based on the total number of points earned. A curve simply implies that the instructor will determine the minimum point values required for each letter grade. The curve will be determined at the end of the semester rather then setting these limits a priori. Approximate curves will also be announced for each exam, although the actual point value is entered into the grade book not a letter grade. A curve does not imply that your grade will be raised or lowered. These limits vary slightly each semester since variations in exam difficulty, teaching quality and grading styles cannot be avoided.

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8. Diability Statement
Students with disabilities must inform the instructor of the need for accommodations. Those who require accommodations for access and participation in this course must be registered with the Disability Resource Center. Please contact ODS at 312-413-2183 (voice) or 312-413-0123 (TTY).

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9. Religious Holidays Statement
The faculty of the University of Illinois at Chicago shall make every effort to avoid scheduling examinations or requiring that student projects be turned in or completed on religious holidays. Students who wish to observe their religious holidays shall notify the faculty member, by the tenth day of the term, of the date when they will be absent unless the religious holiday is observed on or before the tenth day. In such cases, the student shall notify the faculty member at least five days in advance of the date when he/she will be absent. The faculty member shall make every reasonable effort to honor the request, not penalize the student for missing the class, and if an examination or project is due during the absence, give the student an exam or assignment equivalent to the one completed by those students in attendance. If the student feels aggrieved, he or she may request remedy through the campus grievance procedure.

–UIC Senate Policy on Religious Holidays (approved may 25, 1988)

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10. Course Policies
a. academic dishonesty: All cases of academic dishonesty will be brought before the University Judiciary Committee and pursued to the fullest extent possible.

b. lecture attendance: You are expected to attend every lecture. Your attendance is recorded each time you use the i>clicker in class. There will not be opportunities to
makeup i>clicker points that are lost due to abscences.

c. discussion attendance: You are expected to attend every discussion section. Quizzes will be given during this time most weeks. You are not allowed, under any circumstances, to attend a discussion section for which you are not registered.

d. missed quizzes: Failure to take a quiz due to abscence will result in a zero. Since a minimum of 12 quizzes will be given during the semester–and only the top 10 scores will be counted–no makeup quizzes will be given under any circumstances.

e. missed exams: There are no provisions for making up a missed exam without
prior approval by the instructor.

f. incompletes: Incompletes will not be given for students who have taken the final exam. Also, incompletes will only be granted for students showing proof of extenuating circumstances, such as extended illness. Incompletes will not be given for students who are simply dissatisfied with their progress in the course. When an incomplete is assigned, the work already completed and its respective scores will carry over to the next semester.

g. grading errors: Students are responsible for keeping all graded exams and quizzes until final grades have been entered. Students are also responsible for periodically checking their point totals with the records of their TA’s to ensure no mistakes have been made. No grades will be changed after the completion of the course because of grading, recording or adding errors.

h. exam/quiz errors: Students that suspect a grading or adding error on any exam or quiz must bring the original to my office for review within two weeks after the exam or quiz was taken. No scores will be adjusted beyond this deadline.

i. official scores: I maintain the official point total for each student. TA’s are not permitted to change or adjust scores after they have been recorded since this change will not be reflected in the official record.

j. OWL homework: OWL assignments are always due on Sundays, by 11:59 p.m. OWL assignments and their due dates can be found in section B.13 on the following pages. Extensions to these deadlines will only be granted when there are extenuating circumstances that can be documented.

k. i>clickers: Students are responsible for bringing i>clickers to every class. No loaner i>clickers will be made available. Points lost due to absence or forgotten i>clicker scannot be made up. Registration must be completed by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday of the first week of class. See section D.2 for registration instructions.

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11. Academic Dishonesty
All cases of academic dishonesty will be brought before the University Judiciary Committee and pursued to the fullest extent. For more information download the Student Disciplinary Policy, which can be found at the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (OVCSA) homepage (www.uic.edu/depts/ovcsa) by following these links: Dean of Students --> Our Services --> Student Judicial Affaris.

Guidelines for Academic Integrity (www.uic.edu/depts/ovcsa; accessed 1/2/2009).
As an academic community, the University of Illinois at Chicago is committed to providing an environment in which research, learning, and scholarship can flourish and in which all endeavors are guided by academic and professional integrity. All members of the campus community -- students, staff, faculty, administrators -- share the responsibility of insuring that these standards are upheld so that such an environment exists. Instances of academic misconduct by students, and as defined herein, shall be handled pursuant to the Student Disciplinary Policy.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to:

Cheating
Either intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, people, or study aids in any academic exercise, or extending to or receiving any kind of unauthorized assistance on any examination or assignment to, or, from another person.

Fabrication
Knowing or unauthorized falsification, reproduction, lack of attribution, or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise.

Facilitating Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism
Intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise.

Bribes, Favors, Threats
Bribing or attempting to bribe, promising favors to or making threats against, any person, with the intention of affecting a record of a grade, grade, or evaluation of academic performance. Any conspiracy with another person who then takes or attempts to take action on behalf or at the direction of the student.

Examination by Proxy
Taking or attempting to take an exam for someone else other than the student is a violation by both the student enrolled in the course and the proxy or substitute.

Grade Tampering
Any unauthorized attempt to change, actual change of, or alteration of grades or any tampering with grades.

Non-Original Works
Submission or attempt to submit any written work authored, in whole or part, by someone other than the student.

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12. Chapters Covered from Organic Chemistry by F. Carey

Chapter 1: Structure Determines Properties (8-57)

Chapter 2: Alkanes and Cycloalkanes: Introduction to Hydrocarbons (58-101)

Chapter 3: Alkanes and Cycloalkanes: Conformations and cis-trans Stereoisomers (102-137)
Chapter 4: Alcohols and Alkyl Halides (138-181)

Chapter 13: Spectroscopy (516-577)

Chapter 5: Structure and Preparation of Alkenes: Elimination Reactions (182-223)

Chapter 6: Addition Reactions of Alkenes (224-275)

Chapter 7: Stereochemistry (276-317)

Chapter 8: Nucleophilic Substitution (318-353)

Chapter 9: Alkynes (354-381)

Chapter 10: Conjugation in Alkadienes and Allylic Systems (382-419)

Chapter 11: Arenes and Aromaticity (420-469)

Chapter 12: Reactions of Arenes: Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution (470-515)

13. Tentative Schedule
Visit the Schedule page to view the complete course schedule including lecture topics, holidays, OWL deadlines and tentative exam dates.

The course schedule is only tentaive; it will no doubt change as more or less time is required for each topic. When scheduling changes, I will make an announcement in lecture as well as post a new schedule on the course website.

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