This course uses a blend of online and in-person delivery. Students can expect approximately 1h of self-paced online lecture material, 2h of material that can be competed as either in-person lectures or self-paced online modules, and a 1 h in-person workshop each week. This means students who prefer working independently will complete 3 h of online content and 1 h of in-person workshop each week. Students who prefer face-to-face learning will complete 1 h of online content and 3 h of in-person learning (including 1 workshop hour) each week. Students are welcome to mix-and-match as best suits them.

Note that attendance is required at the following scheduled activities.

• Laboratories (3h, once per fortnight) are compulsory and graded.
• Workshops (1h per week) are compulsory.

Lectures and the teacher-led elements of workshops will be available as recordings. Other learning activities including labs will not be available as recordings.
Attendance on campus is required for the test and exam.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.

Taught courses use a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas to provide students with learning materials including reading lists and lecture recordings (where available). Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

The CHEM110 course folder is required for all students and can be purchased from the University bookstore (UBIQ). This contains the shell of the lecture notes as well as the workshop problem sets. A pdf copy is available for students who use a tablet with annotation capabilities. Students need to bring a copy of the course folder to lectures that they can annotate both with drawings and writing.The CHEM110 lab manual is required for all students and can be purchased from the University bookstore (UBIQ). All students must have a hard-copy of the lab manual as you are not permitted to bring tablets or computers into the laboratory. Printable versions are also made available on Canvas.
The recommended textbook for the course is Blackman's Chemistry (3rd, 4th or 5th Ed.). This is supplementary reading (not required reading) and is particularly encouraged for students without a strong background in chemistry at NCEA3 (or equivalent).All other resources, including a CHEM110-specific site subscription to the best choice, will be provided free of charge to students via Canvas. 

The content and delivery of content in this course are protected by copyright. Material belonging to others may have been used in this course and copied by and solely for the educational purposes of the University under license.

You may copy the course content for the purposes of private study or research, but you may not upload onto any third-party site, make a further copy or sell, alter or further reproduce or distribute any part of the course content to another person.

Wearing a laboratory coat, covered footwear, and suitable eye protection (e.g. safety glasses) is compulsory at all times when present in the laboratory. Students are expected to bring these to each laboratory session. If a student does not wear adequate eye protection, appropriate footwear, or a laboratory coat at all times, the student will be asked to leave the laboratory and will receive a fail for that laboratory.

In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.

Detailed Course Description:

Organic compounds of interest to chemists, biologists, and those studying and researching in all areas of medicine and health sciences range from the structurally simple to the very complex. Fortunately, organic compounds can be classified into a relatively small number of structurally similar groups. The similarity in structure means similarity in physical properties and often reactivity. Thus a reasonable approach to providing a sound basis for an understanding of organic molecules is to commence with the simplest organic molecules, identify their common features, and gradually progress to more complex molecules.

1.1 INTRODUCTION and FOUNDATIONS (7-8 hours) Structure and bonding in organic molecules. Functional groups and their nomenclature. Isomerism: Constitutional and conformational. Configurational isomerism in relation to alkenes (E-Z nomenclature) and cycloalkenes. Chirality and optical activity. R and S convention. Bonding and reactions: Electronegativity, bond polarity, and physical properties. Chromatography. Homolytic and heterolytic bond breaking and bond making. Intermediates and reaction classifications.

1.2 FUNCTIONAL GROUP CHEMISTRY (14 hours) Alkenes: Synthesis from alkyl halides and alcohols; catalytic hydrogenation. Additions initiated by the addition of proton, stability of alkyl substituted carbocations; bromine, stereochemistry, and the bromonium ion. Alkynes: Synthesis from vinyl halides and by nucleophilic substitution using acetylide anions. Catalytic hydrogenation, complete and partial. Electrophilic additions. Aromatics: The structure of benzene and resonance energy. Electrophilic aromatic substitutions; bromination, chlorination, nitration, alkylation, and acylation of benzene; activation and deactivation; ortho‐ para- and meta-directors. Phenols: From benzenediazonium salts. Acidity. Alkyl halides: Bromides and chlorides by HX addition to alkenes and HX substitution of alcohols. SN1 and SN2 reaction mechanisms; stereochemistry. E1 and E2 compete with SN; stereochemistry. Preparation of organometallic halides. Ethers: From alkyl halides and alcohols or phenols. Alcohols: From alkenes, alkyl halides, aldehydes, ketones, and esters. Amphoteric nature of alcohols. Substitution and elimination reactions. Grignard synthesis. Aldehydes and ketones: Properties of the C=O bond. Synthesis by acylation of aromatic rings, oxidation of alcohols. Nucleophilic addition of NaBH4, RMgX, ROH, H2O. Hemiacetals and acetals. Carboxylic acids: Preparations by oxidation of alcohols, aldehydes, and aliphatic side-‐chains; by carboxylation of organometallic halides and by nitrile hydrolysis including cyanohydrins. Relative acidities of carboxylic acids. Carboxylic acid derivatives: Acyl halides, anhydrides, esters, amides, and nitriles, their hydrolysis and interconversions. Nucleophilic acyl substitution. Ester reactions with RMgX, LiAlH4. Amines: Synthesis from alkyl halides and ammonia; from imines, amides, nitrile, and nitro compounds. Base strength and reactions as nucleophiles. Quaternary ammonium salts. Aromatic amines; synthesis by reduction of ArNO2 and benzene diazonium ions. Amino acids: structures, structure in acidic, neutral, and basic solutions, configuration, reactions to form peptides including the use of protecting groups, structure and function of proteins using enzymes as examples. Carbohydrates: Configuration of monosaccharides, cyclic structures of monosaccharides, monosaccharide anomers, and mutarotation. Reactions of monosaccharides.

1.3 SPECTROSCOPY (5 hours) Mass spectrometry and the molecular ion. Ultraviolet-visible, its use in detecting π bonds and conjugated systems, and Beer’s Law. Infrared and 13C and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance. Use of spectroscopic methods to identify specific structural units present in molecules, and structure determination of molecules.

1.4 KINETICS (4-5 hours) Definition and measurement of reaction rates; qualitative effects of concentration, temperature, and catalysts on reaction rates; reaction order and rate laws; integrated rate laws in simple systems; Arrhenius equation and activation energy, interpretation in terms of collision theory; reaction mechanisms, rate‐limiting steps, intermediates, and transition states; common organic reaction mechanisms and rate laws; catalysis and enzymes; design of reaction conditions for the desired outcome based on kinetic concepts.

1.5 ACIDS AND BASES (5 hours) Definition of acids and bases, proton transfer reactions; strengths of acids, Ka and pKa; relation of acid strength to structure; pH and species present in acid/base/salt solutions; titration curves and indicators; buffer solutions and applications; the role of very strong acids and bases in organic chemistry; effect of pH on charged species (especially biological molecules), electrophoresis; acid rain, soil chemistry, and pH, pH, and color in biological systems.

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed for potential plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct, using computerised detection mechanisms.

Similarly, research students must meet the University’s expectations of good research practice. This requires:

• Honesty - in all aspects of research work
• Accountability - in the conduct of research
• Professional courtesy and fairness – in working with others
• Good stewardship – on behalf of others
• Transparency – of research process and presentation of results
• Clarity - communication to be understandable, explainable and accessible

For more information on the University’s expectations of academic integrity, please see the Academic Conduct section of the University policy hub.

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about taught courses is made available to enrolled students in Canvas.

Students may be asked to submit assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.

A student must pass both the theory component and the practical component to gain an overall pass. The theory component is composed of quiz, term test, assignment and final exam. The practical component is composed of laboratory experiments and associated tasks.

Regular attendance at scheduled workshops will allow students to qualify for plussage. Plussage allows students to reweight the test/exam contribution of their final grade from 15:50 to 0:65 if their exam mark is higher than their mid-term test mark.

Attendance at laboratories is a compulsory part of this course. Students who miss more than one lab (without a formal excusal) or two labs (with formal excusals) will not be eligible to pass the course. Wearing a laboratory coat, covered footwear, and suitable eye protection (e.g. safety glasses) is compulsory at all times when present in the laboratory. If a student does not wear adequate eye protection, appropriate footwear, or a laboratory coat at all times, the student will be asked to leave the laboratory and will receive a fail for that laboratory.

Feedback on taught courses is gathered from students at the end of each semester through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions. Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students. In addition, class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

We will be working on improving lab resources to better accommodate the range of prior-experience of students in the class, especially those new to the laboratory environment.

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Tuākana is a multi-faceted programme for Māori and Pacific students providing topic specific tutorials, one-on-one sessions, test and exam preparation and more. Explore your options at Tuakana Learning Communities.

As part of the University-wide Tuākana community, The School of chemical sciences aims to provide a welcoming learning environment for and enhance the success of, all of our Māori and Pacific students. We are led by the principles of tautoko (support) and whanaungatanga (connection) and hope you find a home here at the School. Students who have identified as Māori and/or Pacific will receive an invitation to our online portal introducing the Programme, the resources we have available, and how you can get involved.

Tuākana Chemistry runs a range of activities for students enrolled in this class. This includes weekly workshops, social activities, and opportunities to engage with senior students and researchers within the School of Chemical Sciences. Tuākana-eligible students will be added automatically to the Tuākana Chemistry program when they enroll in this course. For more information, please see the Tuākana program website or email scstuakana@auckland.ac.nz.

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website.

We all go through tough times during the semester, or see our friends struggling. There is lots of help out there - please see the Support Services page for information on support services in the University and the wider community.

If your ability to complete assessed work is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due. If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page. This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter.

Students with concerns about teaching including how a course is delivered, the resources provided, or supervision arrangements, have the right to express their concerns and seek resolution. The university encourages informal resolution where possible, as this is quicker and less stressful. For information on the informal and formal complaints processes, please refer to the Student Academic Complaints Statute in the Student Policies and Guidelines section of the Policy Hub.