CM2122 — Organic Chemistry

Academic Year 25/26 - Semester 1

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Lecturer: Asst. Prof Zhu Ruyi

Lab Instructor: Dr. Hoang Truong Giang

Assessments:​

• Midterms: 30%

• Lab Report 1 (Extraction of lavender oil): 4%

• Lab Report 2 (Nitration of Methyl Benzoate): 8%

• Lab Report 3 (Grignard reaction using dry ice): 8%

• Finals: 50%​​

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No. of responses : 2

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REVIEWS

What advice would you give to someone considering taking this course?

 

Marcus: With the removal of Electrophilic Addition and Electrophilic Substitution, the module is now very closely related to H3 Chemistry syllabus on Spectroscopy + Organic Mechanisms (Nucleophilic Subsitution and Elimination) + Conformational Analysis (Conformers, Enantiomerism). Content can be rather overwhelming, so this module should not be rushed at the last minute. Reccommend for continuous effort throughout the semester to make it more manageable.

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Anonymous: The tutorials are helpful in preparing students for the exams and seeing how the theory applies.

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What did you enjoy or find most useful from this course?

  

Marcus: The tutorials are worth attending as they complement the lectures. The TAs put a considerable effort in explaining concepts to us when we would get confused during the lectures. Consultations with the TAs helped to bridge my knowledge gap in this module which is essential due to the fast-paced nature of this module.

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Anonymous: Having to know different many reactions

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What aspects of the course did you find most challenging, and why?

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Marcus: The lecture notes sometimes lack the complete idea of certain mechanisms or reasons for such a phenomenon, often containing screenshots and cut-outs of the textbook. It is best recommended that you supplement your learning by using the textbook to get a more complete idea. The content in this module is quite heavy, but there has been efforts to remove certain topics. Spectroscopy is taught in the end of the semester, but required in the first few weeks for practicals. This portion made the whole process very confusing as we lack the theoretical knowledge for spectroscopy to complete the pro-formas and lab reports. Although the reports were delayed to be due at the end of the semester, it would have been more than 8-10 weeks since we have done the practicals when we learn spectroscopy. NMR is only covered in Week 12 - a week before the deadline. Hence, we only have about 1 week to: a) understand the fundamentals of NMR, b) learn how to read a NMR spectrum, c) interpret the spectra and write our findings - which arguably, can be quite a steep learning slope.

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Anonymous: Some reaction mechanisms were confusing and not very clearly explained.​

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What resources did you find most helpful in helping you better understand the course material?

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Marcus: I recommend Clayden's Organic Chemistry Textbook to learn the content, and practicing through tutorial questions. No practice papers were provided.

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Anonymous: Lecture slides and tutorials are sufficient

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What other courses do you think should be taken before or concurrently with this module?

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Marcus: Just the pre-requisite module - CM1102

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