COURSE INFORMATION
PLEASE READ
There is a clue to a question on the first exam buried in this document
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 308
SPRING 2013
Instructors: Dr. Robert Boikess (Course Coordinator), Dr. Patrick O’Connor, Dr. Heinz D.
Roth, Dr Shmuel Zbaida
Laboratory: You may be registered for Organic Chemistry lab this semester. If
not you should register for it next semester.
General Chemistry Background:
In many ways Organic Chemistry uses and builds on a number of the chemical
principles you learned in General Chemistry. But often the emphasis and approach
are different. You need to understand and be able to use these principles. In
addition to the relevant material in your General Chemistry textbook, you should
again carefully review the material in “Chemical Principles for Organic
Chemistry.”
Textbooks: The materials you bought for 307 last semester are also required for
308. You do not need to purchase anything else if you have them all. If you did not
take 307 last semester you must still buy the entire package. Given the pricing, this
purchase should not be a major financial burden. If you already own an Organic
textbook by another author it will be of very limited use to you. You must use the
6th Edition of “Organic Chemistry” by Brown, Foote, Iverson, and Anslyn.
ALERT: All scheduled classes will meet for their full time period in the first week
of the semester.
Syllabus: Each of the three lecture sections has a slightly different schedule.
Therefore each lecture section has a different syllabus. These syllabi are posted on
the 308 web site. We suggest that you print the one for your section and follow it
assiduously. We will continue with Chapters 16 to 28 (not in sequence) of your
textbook this semester.
Web Page: ALERT; All essential course announcements such as exam locations
and other details will be made on the course web page. In addition, lecture notes,
occasional clarifications of difficult topics, and exams from previous years will be
posted on the web page. Much of the material that will be posted on the web page
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will be in a secure folder. You will receive your user name and password by email
so that you can access this folder. We will assume that you are up to date on all
posted material. A number of important announcements will be posted on this web
page during the first week of the semester and thereafter. Its URL is
http://chem.rutgers.edu/spring_2013_chem_308
Social Media: Last semester the Facebook Group called Organic Chemistry 2012
attracted over 1200 members. Many students found it very helpful, although it also
served as a convenient place for people to spread false rumors about such things as
the class average. I hope that the students who ran the group last semester will
continue it for Chem 308.
Attendance: i-Clickers will be used to take attendance. ALERT: They must be
brought to every lecture starting with the first lecture. Make sure you register
your i-Clicker at www.iclicker.com/registration/ if you didn’t register it last
semester. Clicker web registrations are good for the entire school year. There is no
need to register for the spring semester if you were registered and synchronized for
the fall semester. If you do not bring your i-Clicker to lecture, you will not be able
to have your attendance recorded at a later time. You will not receive credit for
attendance at that lecture. No excuses of any kind will be considered, not even late
registration or defective i-Clickers. But, there are 24 lectures during the semester,
and only 22 attendance points are available. Acidity. So you can miss two lectures
without penalty. Students may attend any lecture they wish and their attendance
will be recorded, but only once for a given lecture. A document is posted on the
course web page that will answer all your questions about i-Clickers.
Problem Solving Sessions: Each lecture section also has a problem solving
session scheduled. You may attend any problem solving session you wish. iClickers will be used in the problem solving sessions. Please bring your i-Clicker
to every problem solving session including the first one. Two or more questions
will be asked during the problem solving sessions that you will answer using your
i-Clicker. Depending on the number of questions you answer correctly, you will
receive 1 or 2 points for that session. You can get points in any session, but in only
one session per week. The maximum number of points you can earn in this way
during the semester is 24 points. These points will be added to your total in
determining your grade for the course.
Email: Questions about any administrative aspect of the course, not answered on
the course web page, should be directed to the course coordinator, Dr. Boikess,
(rsb937@gmail.com) Such matters include absences from exams, extended
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absences from class, and other personal hardships that interfere with your ability to
meet your obligations in the course. Do not send emails asking specific questions
about coverage on upcoming exams. p-nitro. Such questions should be asked in
class so that everyone can hear the answer. Also the answer to a question that starts
with “Do we have to know…?” is almost always yes.
This document and others you will receive by email, as well as postings on the
web site, have the answers to many questions that you will want answered
during the semester. Please read the documents carefully , print
them, and refer to them as needed, before you send an email. If you send an
email in which you ask a question that is answered in these documents; the
reply will be to tell you to find and read the relevant documents. If you do it a
second time, 5 points will be subtracted from your point total. Sorry to be
difficult, but we want to answer every email. It can become almost impossible
to do so because the volume of emails may be extremely large, especially if
people send emails asking questions that were already answered in documents
such as this one. Before you send that email remember that there are more
than 1000 students in the class. This penalty was not enforced very seriously
last semester with unfortunate results. It will be strictly enforced this
semester. Thank you for your cooperation.
Examinations: Three ninety-minute common hour examinations will be given
during the semester. Each exam is worth 100 points. The dates and times are
indicated in the posted course syllabus. ALERT: Two exams are scheduled for
Sundays (2/24 and 4/28) at 6:10 PM. The other one is scheduled for Tuesday April
2 at 9:40 PM. Phenol. The three-hour final exam is worth 250 points, and will
cover all the material of the entire semester. It is scheduled for 12 noon on
Monday, May 13. The exam site locations and the topics covered for each exam
will be announced in advance on the Course Web Page. Exams must be taken at
the scheduled times at the designated locations. Students who are entitled to special
accommodation should present their documentation to Ms. Nelson
(s.nelson@rutgers.edu) the undergraduate administrator in Room 143 of the
Chemistry Building on Busch.
We will permit limited use of molecular models during the exams and announce
the limits before each exam. Calculators will not be permitted. The format of the
exams this year will be similar to what it was last semester and in previous years.
Copies of the exams from 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008 will be available on
the course web page in the secure folder. Because of the change in the textbook
this year, there may be significant differences in coverage or emphasis on any of
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these exams. Older exams than these will be of limited usefulness because of the
change in the exam format. Exams from Fall 2005 or earlier will not be useful at
all and may be misleading.
ALERT: We expect you to adhere to the highest standards of academic
honesty. All violations will be reported and dealt with through the Student
Judicial System.
Missed Exam: If you miss an examination for any reason, you will receive a score
of 0 unless you provide an email from the dean of students on your campus or
from a dean of students at Bishop House on the College Avenue Campus verifying
your excuse. The instructional staff will then determine whether the excuse is
acceptable. Unforeseen events such as your illness or the death of a close relative
or friend will generally be acceptable excuses. Mandatory religious obligations will
also be acceptable excuses and will require a letter from an appropriate religious
official. Outside employment obligations will not be acceptable excuses, nor will
attendance at family functions such as weddings (unless it’s your own), nor will
travel abroad.
Students with excuses deemed acceptable will be excused and appropriate and fair
grading adjustments will be made. There will be no make-up exams for the three
exams given during the semester, except as indicated in the next paragraph. If a
student misses the final exam for an acceptable reason, a make-up final exam will
be given about a week after the regular exam.
Please note that “it is university policy that certain scheduled Rutgers activities
will take precedence over common hour examinations for students who are
formally registered to participate in those activities. Activities that take precedence
over common hour examinations will include regularly scheduled Rutgers classes,
scheduled Rutgers intercollegiate athletic practices, and scheduled Rutgers athletic
events.” Students who have conflicts between such activities and common hour
examinations will be given a make-up exam or may choose to be excused.
Homework: Working (and solving) problems is essential to mastering the course
material. All problems assigned in the syllabus should be done. Some of the exam
questions may be taken from the homework problems in the text. When doing
homework problems, use the Study Guide/Solution Manual only as a last resort.
Additional problems from the end of each chapter (EOC) have been assigned in
OWL and will be graded. There will be some problems assigned mostly at the
beginning of the course from CP. In addition to the 10 EOC OWL problems, a
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group of Mastery Problems (which are short) will be assigned from each chapter.
You must be able to do these problems. They will be graded pass (all correct) or
fail (not all correct). Note that all assignments on OWL have due dates. The OWL
access that you purchased with the textbook package is valid for Chemistry 308.
You need to log in at www.cengage.com/owl under BF 6th Edition and Rutgers,
click the arrow under the User Login Page and enter your previous username and
password. If you have forgotten your login information, use the Login Help on the
login page to have it resent to you. Use the Add/Switch link to put yourself into the
correct class section for Spring Semester. You don't need to register a second time.
If you did not take Chemistry 307 last semester the information you need
about OWL can be found at
http://chem.rutgers.edu/sites/chem.rutgers.edu/files/coursefiles/courses_f12/
307/Homework.pdf and at
http://chem.rutgers.edu/sites/chem.rutgers.edu/files/coursefiles/courses_f12/
307/OWL.pdf
You will have to register.
Chem 308: As you know, Organic Chemistry is a two semester course. Chemistry
308 is substantially more difficult than 307 and success in 308 is unlikely without a
solid foundation from 307. So if you just squeaked by in 307 (with a D or a C with
a score under 120 on the final exam), you should realize that you have your work
cut out for you. You should work extra hard right now to enhance your skills in
pushing arrows, writing mechanisms, and formulating syntheses. Many of you
who did well in 307 did so because of the fear generated by what you heard before
you enrolled in the course. Do not get smug and make the mistake of thinking that
your fear was misplaced and that Orgo isn’t really that hard after all. Don’t think
that you won’t have to work at least as hard this semester. You will, and if you do,
now that you know what is expected and how to provide it, even greater success in
308 is likely.
Your Grade: Your final grade in the course will be determined primarily from the
total number of points you earned for the four exams, and in many cases from
OWL homework, attendance at lectures, and problem solving sessions points, as
well. Students who score 35% or lower on the final exam will normally receive a
grade of F. Students who have strong rising or falling trends during the semester
will have their later work weighted more heavily.
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Point Totals: (may change due to unforeseen events) Ninety minute exams: 300;
final exam: 250; homework: 70 (OWL total divided by 2); attendance: 22(1
point for each lecture attended to a maximum of 22); problem solving sessions
24 (2 point quiz in each problem solving session to a maximum of 24)
maximum point total: 666.
Adjustments: Grades in the course are assigned based on borderline ranges,
trends, and other performance considerations. All students anywhere near a
borderline are looked at individually. As a result, not every point counts. We
wish to discourage obsessive concern with every point . As a result no score
adjustments of any kind that are fewer than 3 points will be made.
That includes OWL (divide by 2) and i-Clickers. Please save time and energy by
not asking.
Prognosis: Anyone who got this far and honestly tries should be able to pass 308.
It is our goal that everyone passes. We will do as much as we can to provide help
and support. Please do your part.
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