Organic Chemistry

The teaching aims to provide the student with the knowledge necessary for understanding the structure of organic molecules and their most common reactions, through the description of the main classes of organic compounds, the study of their chemical and physical characteristics, their reactivity and methods of obtaining them with frequent references to environmental issues. The learning of the concepts and notions acquired, will be facilitated by synchronous classroom and self-assessment exercises on digital platforms. Explanatory videos will also be made available to facilitate learning of more complex mechanisms. The course also includes a laboratory experiences in which experiments will be carried out in order to acquire the ability for the correct execution of an organic chemistry experiment, including the basic safety rules regarding the handling and the disposal of organic substances. The laboratory experiments aim to give the basic knowledge of the fundamental purification techniques (crystallization, distillation and chromatography), the separation (extraction) and the reactivity of organic compounds.

At the end of the course, the student will have acquired knowledge about the structure, chemical and physical properties of the main classes of organic compounds, will be able to critically analyse organic molecules on the basis of their structure, recognizing their acidity/basicity, nucleophilicity/electrophilicity, and stereochemistry, understand and predict the reactivity of organic molecules on the basis of the functional groups in the molecular structure. (Dublin Descriptor 1: Knowledge and Ability to Understand)
He/she will know how to apply the concepts of hybridization, covalent, polar, sigma and pi-greed bonding, isomerization and resonance to organic compounds; he/she will be able to recognize the functional groups present in the structures and assign IUPAC names. In addition, the student will gain knowledge of the mechanisms of chemical transformations and be able to predict the products of a reaction from analysis of the reactants, catalysts and reaction conditions used. This ability will be developed by conducting classroom exercises through discussion between students and lecturer during the course of the exercises. In addition, periodic verification of understanding of the skills acquired will be possible through the performance of exercises chosen by the lecturer, available on an online platform. (Dublin Descriptor 2: Ability to apply knowledge and understanding).
The student will acquire the ability to propose simple synthetic strategies for the preparation of chemical compounds and to predict the physical characteristics and reactivity of organic molecules. (Dublin Descriptor 3: Critical and judgmental skills).
The student will be expected to acquire the ability to use vocabulary and terminology related to Organic Chemistry to transfer knowledge, including through informing reports of laboratory experiences. (Dublin Descriptor 4: Ability to communicate what has been learned.)
By the end of the teaching, the student will have acquired the foundation for learning the preparatory topics for the Environmental Chemistry, Biochemistry, Food Chemistry and Chemical Toxicological Analysis teachings in subsequent years. (Dublin Descriptor 5: Ability to pursue study independently)
Attendance in the laboratory will enable the student to be able to perform standard laboratory procedures and use the necessary instrumentation for synthesis.