The study of physical organic chemistry presents a prime opportunity for undergraduate students to extend their knowledge from previous chemistry courses and develop independent research skills. At Williams College, we offer Physical Organic Chemistry as a 300-level elective course, open to sophomores through seniors. Students spend the first half of the semester learning methods to study and define structure and activity in organic reaction mechanisms. The focus of this poster is the second half of the semester, in which students are asked to choose a reaction of interest from the literature and to design a set of experiments that incorporate physical organic methods (e.g. kinetics, isotope effects, linear free energy relationships, computational studies, stereochemistry, and solvent effects) in order to better understand the organic reaction of their choice. Presented here is the general framework of the course and examples of student projects (e.g. sigmatropic rearrangements, proline-catalyzed aldol reactions, oxidation of alcohols, and properties of fulvenes). Laboratory work is accompanied by weekly presentations and discussions of data and culminates in a final report. In this way, students have the opportunity to refine their oral and written communication skills.

Independent research projects in an undergraduate physical organic chemistry course

256th National Meeting (2018)

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