KEMM21. The aim of the course is to provide students with specialised theoretical knowledge of synthetic organic chemistry and knowledge of physical organic chemistry. This course will provide you with synthetic tools to master functional group transformations and carbon-carbon bond formations on a high level. It will give you an orientation about how to perform multistep synthesis and retrosynthetic analysis will be one tool. Until now most of the reaction mechanism that you have been exposed to have been presented without experimental proofs. In this course you will be provided with a toolbox for how to decipher the reaction mechanism experimentally. The course has a molecular perspective and aims to develop the student's ability to describe the link between structure and reactivity/physical properties.

Course content

The theory component deals with advanced synthesis and basic physical organic chemistry. The topics covered include structure and bonding, reaction mechanisms and synthesis methods. The organic synthesis part makes up two thirds of the course and focuses on methods for creating carbon-carbon bonds and selectivity (chemo-, regio- diastereoselectivity). Basic retrosynthetic analysis is used as an aid throughout the course. New reaction types based on cation, anion, radical and carbene intermediates are described in detail. Basic use of organometallic chemistry in synthesis is addressed briefly. The physical organic chemistry part mainly deals with methods to determine reaction mechanisms. The theory behind the different classes of pericyclic reactions is treated in detail.

The laboratory component aims to provide students with practical skills in organic synthesis, especially multistep synthesis, and in characterisation of synthesis products (NMR and IR) in practice. Furthermore, the course is to provide students with advanced training in written presentation in the form of laboratory reports.