Topics Covered in Organic I

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Charles Darwin

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I already purchased my Organic I book for next semester and would like to begin reading through some of the material that we will be tested on. However, I'm not really sure what topics we will be covering in Organic I and which we will be covering in Organic II because, unfortunately, the professor I'm taking doesn't follow the textbook sequentially.

I'm sure I'll need to know the general principles: structure and bonding, intermolecular forces, chemical reactivity, aromaticity, nomenclature, and stereoisomers. Other than the aforementioned, what other major topics are included in Organic I?

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try to find your professors syllabus online. That's what I did and I plan to browse through my book by following his guideline a week or so before my classes start.
 
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If you wanted to familiarize yourself with the material you could start learning the Sn2, Sn1, E2, and E1 reaction mechanisms. They form a pretty large part of O Chem 1, and they'll be unlike anything you've seen before. Of the stuff on your list, nomenclature and stereoisomers are pretty big topics. Inter/Intramolecular forces, bonding, and aromaticity are not big topics, either because they don't come up much or there's only really one thing to say on them. You could also review molecular orbital theory and VSEPR theory, since geometry is a huge part of organic.
 
If I remember correctly, these are the topics we covered (in order) for organic 1.

-nomencalture
-types of compounds (basic structures ie. R-O-R = ether, R-OH = alcohol etc)
- effects of molecular weight, branching, hydrogen bonding, etc on boiling point and melting point
- Stereochemistry - I strongly urge you to learn how to draw chair conformations of cyclohexane and learn what gauche interactions are, what steric hindrance is (this will help you understand why some products form and some dont) and learn how to draw newman projections and how to convert newman projections to normal structures)
- isomers (this was a BIG BIG BIGGGGGG part of organic 1 and 2 at my school, if you can hit this nail on the head you will have a much easier time in organic)

those topics should prepare you to get ahead in your orgo course, personally I dont think it is really necessary for you to learn Sn1, Sn2 rxn's yet because that wont' make much sense unless you have a solid understanding of the topics I mentioned above.


Also your professors may tell you to use one of those model kits, I used it one time and it made me a lot more confused than I started. I was extremely good at seeing 3-D images in my head but you might not be, try it out but I don't think you'll need it.

Organic is really easy, it is just very time consuming, just make sure you go to class and read whatever the prof tells you to.

edit: and as astarael mentioned, VESPR theory and molecular orbital theory will really help you to understand the concepts you will face in orgo so they are really important to know.
 
nomenclature and isomerism should be enough to keep you busy for the next six weeks, if you are so inclined. i don't know if anything else can reliably be said to be a part of orgo 1, everywhere.

bear in mind also that orgo is only about 6% of the MCAT now, and i figure about half of that 6% has to do with the above two topics.
 
try to find your professors syllabus online. That's what I did and I plan to browse through my book by following his guideline a week or so before my classes start.
I tried to find my prof's syllabus online but to no avail. :(
Your professor probably has an old syllabus posted online somewhere which might be of use to you. Otherwise, here's one from my school: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...&sig=AHIEtbQ1Mx6T6hAbPjcQoU7pNi9maxxjxw&pli=1
Thanks! If you don't mind me asking, how many hours per week did you study for this class? The syllabus reads that you should study at least 15-20 hours per week for the course. Then again, you took the course in a 6-week session. 15-20 hours doesn't seem like enough time to master all the concepts taught in organic I. Is this class easier than it's perceived?
If you wanted to familiarize yourself with the material you could start learning the Sn2, Sn1, E2, and E1 reaction mechanisms. They form a pretty large part of O Chem 1, and they'll be unlike anything you've seen before. Of the stuff on your list, nomenclature and stereoisomers are pretty big topics. Inter/Intramolecular forces, bonding, and aromaticity are not big topics, either because they don't come up much or there's only really one thing to say on them. You could also review molecular orbital theory and VSEPR theory, since geometry is a huge part of organic.
Are there any other general chemistry topics I should review besides molecular orbiatal theory and VSEPR? Are acids and bases a large part of organic?
If I remember correctly, these are the topics we covered (in order) for organic 1.

-nomencalture
-types of compounds (basic structures ie. R-O-R = ether, R-OH = alcohol etc)
- effects of molecular weight, branching, hydrogen bonding, etc on boiling point and melting point
- Stereochemistry - I strongly urge you to learn how to draw chair conformations of cyclohexane and learn what gauche interactions are, what steric hindrance is (this will help you understand why some products form and some dont) and learn how to draw newman projections and how to convert newman projections to normal structures)
- isomers (this was a BIG BIG BIGGGGGG part of organic 1 and 2 at my school, if you can hit this nail on the head you will have a much easier time in organic)

those topics should prepare you to get ahead in your orgo course, personally I dont think it is really necessary for you to learn Sn1, Sn2 rxn's yet because that wont' make much sense unless you have a solid understanding of the topics I mentioned above.


Also your professors may tell you to use one of those model kits, I used it one time and it made me a lot more confused than I started. I was extremely good at seeing 3-D images in my head but you might not be, try it out but I don't think you'll need it.

Organic is really easy, it is just very time consuming, just make sure you go to class and read whatever the prof tells you to.

edit: and as astarael mentioned, VESPR theory and molecular orbital theory will really help you to understand the concepts you will face in orgo so they are really important to know.
I was debating whether or not I should invest in a model kit to help me visualize the molecules. I can usually imagine 3D conformations in my mind without much trouble, but I could see how an actual model would be beneficial as well. Hmm...

Most of the things you listed were covered by my high school organic chemistry class. It's all pretty straightforward kind of stuff. We also did a lot of basic reactions in high school - are those organic II topics?
nomenclature and isomerism should be enough to keep you busy for the next six weeks, if you are so inclined. i don't know if anything else can reliably be said to be a part of orgo 1, everywhere.

bear in mind also that orgo is only about 6% of the MCAT now, and i figure about half of that 6% has to do with the above two topics.
I've already got a pretty solid grasp on nomenclature and isomerism. Are there any other universally taught Organic I topics I should be aware of?

Oh, and I won't be taking the MCAT for another 1.5 years. ;)
 
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Are there any other general chemistry topics I should review besides molecular orbiatal theory and VSEPR? Are acids and bases a large part of organic?

The gen chem stuff that you need to know for organic is pretty basic. For instance, acids and bases are a pretty big part of determining which reactions will go, but you really just need to know what constitutes a base or an acid, and not much else. Similarly, electronegativity plays a pretty big role in determining where a reaction will occur on a molecule, but you really only need to know that electronegativity trends higher as you go towards F on the periodic table.

That's all I can think of right now, but if I think of more I'll be sure to let you know :)
 
**** all that.

Start at chapter 1, OP. Then progress to the end.
 
**** all that.

Start at chapter 1, OP. Then progress to the end.
My prof doesn't go through the textbook in order, otherwise I would do that. I don't want to waste time studying something I won't need to know for organic I.
 
If you want a guideline to what you'll do in your ochem 1 class, then buy Organic chemistry as a second language ( Klein), it's worth its weight in gold and goes through basically every important topic in organic chemistry 1. You can use it to look up the chapters in your book that'll be important, as well as do the first chapter which is one of the only ones you pre-study effectively.
 
If you want a guideline to what you'll do in your ochem 1 class, then buy Organic chemistry as a second language ( Klein), it's worth its weight in gold and goes through basically every important topic in organic chemistry 1. You can use it to look up the chapters in your book that'll be important, as well as do the first chapter which is one of the only ones you pre-study effectively.
I've already got one of the older versions downloaded as a pdf. Would it be worth buying the newest version?
 
Thanks! If you don't mind me asking, how many hours per week did you study for this class? The syllabus reads that you should study at least 15-20 hours per week for the course. Then again, you took the course in a 6-week session. 15-20 hours doesn't seem like enough time to master all the concepts taught in organic I. Is this class easier than it's perceived?

Oh, I didn't notice that this was a syllabus from the summer semester. I actually took my sequence during the school year, so that study schedule is a bit exaggerated. I typically studied about 1-2 hours after each lecture (which met 3 times per week) and worked on practice problems when they were assigned. I do think that orgo is far easier than it gets credit for. IMO it's not a particularly difficult class conceptually, but instead requires a consistent effort on your end to keep on top of the material.
 
I was debating whether or not I should invest in a model kit to help me visualize the molecules. I can usually imagine 3D conformations in my mind without much trouble, but I could see how an actual model would be beneficial

Just get something cheap and used. Your professor might allow pre-built models during an exam, mine did. So if you had to draw the chair formation, you already had the model there ready. Though you are likely not be needing it for the second semester, so it is kind of a one semester thing.
 
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If you want a guideline to what you'll do in your ochem 1 class, then buy Organic chemistry as a second language ( Klein), it's worth its weight in gold and goes through basically every important topic in organic chemistry 1. You can use it to look up the chapters in your book that'll be important, as well as do the first chapter which is one of the only ones you pre-study effectively.


i can not second this enough. klein is a genius when it comes to relaying the basics.


work through this whole book before you start your class, and organic will be cake!
 
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