Course Grades Posted

Your final exam score and course grade have been posted to Blackboard. As usual, the course stats can be viewed on the Grades Fall 2010 webpage. If you would like to discuss your grade, you may stop by my office on Monday or Tuesday (Dec. 13 & 14) between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.  Final exams will not be returned; however, I can let you see your exam if you stop by. Have a great winter break and best of luck in all your academic endeavors.

Orgo Lab (CHEM 233) Final Exam

The final exam for CHEM 233 is on Monday, December 6 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in room 250 SES.  For more information, including the makeup exam policy, view the document finalinfo_233F10.pdf on the course website File Sharing page.

Orgo Lecture (CHEM 232) Final Exam

The final exam for CHEM 232 is on Friday, December 10 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. in room 250 SES.  For more information, including the makeup exam policy, view the document finalinfo_232F10.pdf on the course website File Sharing page.

Synthetic Challenge

Exam 3 and the final exam are approaching fast.  The focus of both of these exams will be on synthesis, which requires you apply all of the organic chemistry you've learned thus far. To help you prepare, I've posted two handouts on the course website File Sharing page (synthesis_689.pdf & synthesis_10112.pdf) that describe common synthetic strategies and provide several synthetic challenges for practice.  In order to encourage you to work on these, I am going to pull the synthesis questions for exam 3 and the final exam directly from these two handouts, with no modifications.  Start working on them early.  Don't procrastinate!  And try to have fun.  Once you've mastered these synthetic problems, you can finally say you're an organic chemist--if only for a semester.

CHEM 232 Exam 2 Graded, Scores Posted

The CHEM 232 exam two is graded and your scores have been posted to Blackboard.  The average was 51.5%, which I thought was very good considering the difficulty of this exam and the amount of material we covered.  Nice job!  For more statistics, including the exam curve and distribution, visit the  Grades Fall 2010 page   on the course website. I will update the clicker, OWL and quiz stats next week on Blackboard and the course website.

Your TA will return the exams during discussion section next week.  They will not return the exams before that time, so please don't ask. Look over your exam very carefully next week.  If you believe that there are grading or adding errors, follow the instructions in the document  exam_corrections.pdf , which can be found on the  File Sharing page   of the course website.  You must submit your exam by Monday, November 1 in order to have it reviewed for errors.   There was one ranking question that I thought was too difficult (rank in order of increasing rate of hydration), so I added three points to everyone's final exam score, which is reflected in the Blackboard score.  Do not submit a correction for that question.

Grades Posted

Your midterm score and lab report average score have been posted to Blackboard.  You will receive your midterm back during your next lab session.  For midterm exam and course grading stats, visit the Grades Fall 2010 page on the CHEM 233 course website.  Remember, there is no lab for sections meeting Monday, October 18.  Tuesday through Friday sections, however, will meet this week and will be completing Lab 7.

After you receive your midterm exam, carefully check for mistakes or addition errors.  If you believe there is a grading error, first consult your TA and if they agree then submit your exam for review according to the instructions in the handout (exam_corrections.pdf) posted on the File Sharing page of the orgo labs website.  You must submit your exam by Monday, November 1 for it to be considered for corrections.  No exam will be accepted after that date.

Finally, if you would like more information on your standing in the course or are concerned about your performance, please stop by during office hours (M,W 3-5 p.m.) as soon as possible so that we can discuss strategies for improving your grade.  Little can be done at the end of the semester.  With over 300 points remaining in the course, however, you can still make significant improvements if you are not meeting your current goals.

Exam 2, Review Session, Quiz 8

Exam 2 is on Monday, October 18 at 6:00 p.m. in room 250 SES.  Please arrive 10 minutes early to find your seat and relax to another stunning selection of music.  A sample exam has been posted on the course website's File Sharing Page (SampleEx2_SP09.pdf).  The format of Exam 2 will be similar to the sample and Exam 1; however, the questions will not be the same.  For example, you should know all of the mechanism covered in class so far.  You will be asked to write two mechanisms for Exam 2, but they will not necessarily be the same mechanisms that are on the sample exam.  In other words, do not rely solely on the sample exam to study.  Also review OWL homework, quizzes, clicker questions and lecture notes.  For additional practice, complete as many end-of-chapter questions in your textbook as possible.  A review session will be held this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in room 130 SES (check for a propped open door).  As before, the review session is student-driven.  Bring problems and questions that you would like to work out on the whiteboard with the class.  I will not be presenting or lecturing, only guiding and facilitating the discussion from the audience.  

Finally, per your vote in class today, the topic for next week's quiz will be predict-the-products.  This quiz (30 minutes) will be given during your discussion section as usual and will cover all of the reactions discussed in the course through this Thursday's lecture.

CHEM 233 Midterm Exam

Reminder: The CHEM 233 midterm exam (for all sections) is on Thursday, October 14 at 6:00 p.m. in room 250 SES.  Please arrive 10 minutes early to find your seat; a seating chart will be distributed that night.  Sample exams have been posted on the course website; however, I strongly encourage you to review the prelab lecture slides and the homework questions as well.  A makeup exam has been scheduled for Thursday, October 12 at 8:00 a.m. for students showing proof of enrollment in another course that meets during the exam. To arrange a makeup exam, please send me an e-mail no later than Tuesday, October 12 at 4:00 p.m.  You will be required to show proof of enrollment (e.g., a printed UIC schedule) before taking the makeup exam. 

Phew! Exam 1 Graded!

Give a big round of applause to your TA.  They worked well into the night to grade your exams so that you could check your scores this week on Blackboard and end your suffering.  Overall, I was very pleased with the results.  We had a record number of As (20%), which was more than the number of Bs (15%)--an unusual, but pleasant circumstance.  For many of you, your hard work has paid off.  Congratulations!  If you are disappointed with your score or frustrated with your progress, don't despair yet.  Get help as soon as you can. Stop by my office or visit a tutor in the SLC .  There is plenty of time to make major improvements since we have completed only 36% percent of the course.  For more statistics, including the exam curve and distribution, visit the Grades Fall 2010 page on the course website.

Look over your exam very carefully next week.  If you believe that there are grading or adding errors, follow the instructions in the document exam_corrections.pdf, which can be found on the File Sharing page of the course website.  You must submit your exam within two weeks of the date the exam was given in order to have it reviewed for errors. Your TA will return the exams during discussion section next week.  They will not return the exams before that time, so please don't ask.

Review Session and Sample Exam

A sample exam has been posted on the course website's File Sharing page.  Do not rely solely on the sample exam as your source of practice.  Also review OWL homework, quiz questions, and the end-of-chapter problems in the textbook.

A review session will be held on Thursday, September 16 at 6:00 p.m. in room 130 SES.  It will be primarily student-driven and not formally structured.  Plan ahead so that you are able to bring specific problems that you would like to work on to the review session (e.g., print OWL questions, end-of-chapter questions, quiz material, sample exam material).  You and your colleagues will work on these together in front of the group at the whiteboard.  The class and myself will help and discuss the problem you and your colleagues are presenting.  I will not be lecturing or working out the problems for the class.  I am only there to guide your work and assist in the general discussion of the group.  I will not answer any questions pertaining to the content of the exam itself.

SLC Tutors

Tutors are available every week in the Science and Learning Center (201 SES) to assist students with general chemistry and organic chemistry.  Download the schedule of tutors here.

Take-Home Quiz 3 Posted

Quiz 3 is a take-home quiz and has been posted on the File Sharing page of the course website as well as in the Blackboard Course Documents.  Print the quiz, complete and turn in during your discussion section the week of September 13.  The quiz must be turned in personally to your TA during discussion section.  It will not be accepted late or outside of your discussion section.

OWL #1 & #2 Extension

As many of you have noticed, the OWL system is down.  Therefore, I will extend the deadline for both Assignment #1 and Assignment #2 to Wednesday, September 8 at 11:59 p.m. as soon as I am able to log on to the system myself.  Hopefully everything will be back online soon.

Also, because of the Labor Day weekend I've decided to make Quiz #3 a take-home quiz that will be due next week during your discussion section.  I'm working on it now and more details will follow shortly. 

Newest mascot suggestion: Bond, Double Bond.  Any others? :)

Have a great weekend.

Chad

SLC Study Groups

There is a fantastic opportunity to sign up for semester-long organic chemistry study groups in the Science and Learning Center (SLC; 201 SES).  These groups will meet every week all semester and are peer-led by highly qualified CHEM 232 students.  There are a limited number of positions available and the deadline for signing up is this Friday, September 3 at 3:00 p.m.  For more information, download the document SLC_orgostudygroup.pdf from the Blackboard Course Documents menu or from the course website File Sharing page.  If you have questions, contact Kevin Sullivan (ksulliv2@uic.edu).

OWL Assignment Extension & Lecture Notes Addition

I have extended the OWL deadline for the first assignment to Sunday, September 5 at 11:59 p.m.  OWL assignment two is still also due on Sunday, September 5 at 11:59 p.m.  This is a longer assignment.  Be sure to start well in advance so that you have plenty of time and can reflect on the questions carefully.  Also, I was unable to present my last slides during lecture today on naming cycloalkanes.  These have been posted with lecture 3 on the course website.  You are responsible for learning the material in these slides on your own since they will not be presented during the next lecture.

CHEM 232 Fall 2010: To-Do List, Syllabus and Course Info

Welcome to CHEM 232: Organic Chemistry Lecture I

As we approach the start of the Fall 2010 semester, I want to welcome you to the course and also to give you a list of tasks that should be completed before the first lecture so that you are adequately prepared and do not fall behind.  One of the most important skills required for success in a large university lecture course is your ability to seek out and follow directions carefully and to keep up with the workload.  I encourage you to read all of the resources on the course website as well as on Blackboard that are discussed in the to-do list below.  If you have any questions, my door--and e-mail inbox--are already open and waiting to assist you.  I look forward to sharing my passion for the exciting world of organic chemistry with you.  This semester I aim not only to teach you the chemistry content that you require for your academic endeavors, but also to train you in the type of analytical thinking that is required for solving scientific problems in the professional field to which you aspire.  While you may not want to be an organic chemist, the learning process in this course involves many general skills that  you will undoubtedly employ in your future careers.

Cheers,

Dr. Chad Landrie

To Do List:

1.  Become acquainted with the resources available on Blackboard and on the course website ( www.chadlandrie.com).

2.  Carefully read the document Organic Chemistry I (CHEM 232): Syllabus & Course Information, which may be downloaded from the course website's File Sharing page (gettingstarted_232F10_b.pdf).  This document will not be distributed during the lecture or your discussion section.

3.  Purchase the required text and materials for the course including the textbook, i>clicker and OWL registration code.  The textbook and i>clicker are available at the UIC bookstore.  The OWL registration code must be purchased online.

 4.  Register your OWL code online according to the instructions in the getting started guide or on the course website's OWL page.

5. Register your i>clicker online according to the instructions in the getting started guide or on the course website's i>clicker page.

6.  Read Chapter One in the Carey textbook.  All of the material in this chapter should be a review from your general chemistry courses.  We will cover this chapter very quickly during the first two lectures.  If you're a bit rusty on some topics and need a more thorough review than is presented in Chapter One of our text, you may want to view some of my past general chemsitry lectures.

7.  Attend your first discussion section.  There will be a quiz during the first discussion.  The quiz will cover the material in chapter one.

8.  Begin working on your first OWL assignment.  The first assignment is due on Sunday, August 29 at 11:59 PM.

CHEM 233 To-Do List, Course Info & Syllabus

Welcome to CHEM 233: Organic Chemistry Laboratory I

As we approach the start of the Fall 2010 semester, I want to welcome you to the course and also to give you a list of tasks that should be completed in the coming weeks.  Most of these should be completed before the first lab session so that you are adequately prepared and do not fall behind.  One of the most important skills required for success in a large university laboratory course, is your ability to seek out and follow directions carefully.  I encourage you to read all of the resources on the course website as well as on Blackboard that are discussed in the to-do list below.  If you have any questions, my door--and e-mail inbox--are already open and waiting to assist you.  I look forward to sharing my passion for the exciting world of organic chemistry with you.  This semester I aim not only to teach you the chemistry content and laboratory techniques that you require for your academic endeavors, but also to train you in the type of analytical thinking that is required for solving problems in a laboratory setting as well as the professional field to which you aspire.  While you may not want to be an organic chemist, the practical application of technical knowledge in a laboratory setting involves many general skills that  you will undoubtedly employ in your future careers.  

Cheers,

Dr. Chad Landrie

To Do List:

1.  Become acquainted with the resources available on Blackboard and on the course website ( www.chadlandrie.com).

2.  Purchase the required texts and materials for the course including the lab notebook, textbook and goggles.  All of these items are available at the UIC bookstore.  The lab manual will be distributed during the first laboratory sesssion.

3.  Carefully read the course syllabus.  The syllabus can be found in the lab manual, which will be distributed during the first laboratory session, or downloaded from the CHEM 233 File Sharing page on the course website.

4.  Review the principles of infrared spectroscopy as well as the common functional groups in organic chemistry.  During your first laboratory session, you will complete an activity titled Infrared Spectroscopy Primer (also in the lab manual) designed to review the principles of infrared spectroscopy and to demonstrate how this technique is used to identify functional groups in organic molecules.  If you are currently enrolled in CHEM 232, and have not encountered this analytical technique yet, you may want to begin working on the IR Primer as well as the pertinent sections in your lecture textbook before your lab.  You may also want to look over lecture slides from my CHEM 232 course on infrared spectroscopy.  The IR Primer activity will not be collected or graded (a pre-lab notebook entry is not required); it's sole function is to provide you with the information you need for the first laboratory experiment the following session.  Be sure to ask your TA plenty of questions so that you get the information you need.  During the following lab session, you will learn how to collect IR spectra on one of our two infrared spectrometers.  You will then use this technique on that day to identify unknown organic compounds.

Details for the Final Exam, Lab Practical and Laboratory Notebook

The CHEM 233 final exam is on Thursday, August 5 in Lecture Center A1 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. For more details, including a list of final exam topics, download the document finalexaminfo_SU10.pdf from the File Sharing page. This document also contains additional details for the laboratory notebook and upcoming lab practical exam.

Midterm Exam Corrections and Stats

The midterm exams have been graded; your TA will return them in class this week or next.  You may also view your score on Blackboard.  The exam curve and and distribution can be found on the course website Grades Summer 2010 page.  If you believe there are grading errors on your exam, follow the instructions in in the course manual for submitting your exam for review. Be sure to review your exam carefully now.  The deadline for submitting your exam for review is July 26.  Cheers, Chad

Midterm Exam

Reminder: The CHEM 233 midterm exam is on Monday, July 12 at 6:00 p.m. in room 250 BSB (not SES).  Please arrive 10 minutes early so that you can find your seat according to the seating chart that will be passed out that night.  The midterm will cover the material in labs 1-6.  You may download practice exams from the course website.

Consolidate All Your Webservers with Cyberduck

Disclaimer:  Mac Geeks Only!

I work with several remote servers during the semester.  These include tigger and iccarus accounts (UIC) that host my websites, a Blackboard webdisk, two servers for NMR data at UIC, my MobileMe iDisk and even a server for my copier scans in the Chemistry Department.  Managing each separately is an annoying and time consuming task.  Not only do I have to remember the addresses and login information for each, but until today I used different access methods (e.g., Fetch, MacFusion and the Mac Finder).  Enter Cyberduck.  With this open source freeware app, I have been able to consolidate all of my server connections in one place.  It's main advantage over Fetch (a common FTP client) is that it supports all of the protocols I require, including: FTP, SFTP, WebDav and MobileMe.  If you work with several servers utilizing more than one file transfer protocol, I highly recommend this app.  It's intuitive, has a clean GI and works as advertised.  If you're looking for an app that will allow you to mount those servers as disk images on your desktop, checkout MacFusion which is built on Google's MacFUSE code.  This app, however, does not currently support OS 10.6 (Leopard).

CHEM 233 Summer 2010 To-Do List

Welcome to CHEM 233

As we approach the start of the Summer 2010 semester, I want to welcome you to the course and also to give you a list of tasks that should be completed in the coming weeks.  Most of these should be completed before the first lab session so that you are adequately prepared and do not fall behind.  One of the most important skills required for success in a large university laboratory course, is your ability to seek out and follow directions carefully.  I encourage you to read all of the resources here on the course website as well as on Blackboard that are discussed in the to-do list below.  If you have any questions, my door--and e-mail inbox--are already open and waiting to assist you.  I'm looking forward to sharing my passion for the exciting world of organic chemistry with you.  This semester I aim not only to teach you the chemistry content and laboratory techniques that you require for your academic endeavors, but also to train you in the type of analytical thinking that is required for solving problems in a laboratory setting as well as the professional field to which you aspire.  While you may not want to be an organic chemist, the practical application of technical knowledge in a laboratory setting involves many general skills that  you will undoubtedly employ in your future careers.  

Cheers,

Dr. Chad Landrie

To Do List:

1.  Become acquainted with the resources available on Blackboard and on the course website (www.chadlandrie.com).

2.  Purchase the required texts and materials for the course including the lab notebook, textbook and goggles.  All of these items are available at the UIC bookstore.  The lab manual will be distributed during the first laboratory sesssion.

3.  Carefully read the course syllabus.  The syllabus can be found in the lab manual, downloaded from the course website (www.chadlandrie.com).

4.  Review the principles of infrared spectroscopy as well as the common functional groups in organic chemistry.  During your first laboratory session, you will participate in an infrared spectroscopy primer (also in the lab manual) designed to review the principles of infrared spectroscopy and to demonstrate how this technique is used to identify functional groups in organic molecules.  If you are currently enrolled in CHEM 232, and have not encountered this analytical technique yet, you may want to begin working on the IR Primer as well as the pertinent sections in your lecture textbook before your lab.  You may also want to look over lecture slides from my CHEM 232 course on infrared spectroscopy here.  The IR Primer activity will not be collected or graded (a pre-lab notebook entry is not required); it's sole function is to provide you with the information you need for the first laboratory experiment the following session.  Be sure to ask your TA plenty of questions so that you get the information you need.  During the following lab session, you will learn how to collect IR spectra on one of our two spectrometers.  You will then use this technique on that day to identify unknown organic compounds.