Undergraduate Course: Advanced Organic Chemistry (CHEM10057)

Course Outline
School	School of Chemistry	College	College of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate)	Availability	Available to all students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	A lecture course focused on contemporary advanced organic chemistry, with an emphasis on complex molecule synthesis. The material reflects some of the research interests in the school. The course comprises course units such as: supramolecular synthesis, function and catalysis; solid phase synthetic methods as applied to complex oligo-peptide preparation; asymmetric Lewis base catalysis; advanced mechanistic analysis; pericyclic chemistry; computational chemistry. The applications of organic compounds in areas as diverse as catalysis, biology and medicine will also be considered.
Course description	The course contains the 4 lecture units outlined above, each with an associated small group tutorial. The examination in May consists of 4 compulsory questions of 10 marks each with optional sections of 10 marks, from which 3 must be chosen.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations	Students MUST NOT also be taking Advanced Organic Chemistry (CHEM11064)	Other requirements	None

Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites	This is a fourth-year honours level course; students are expected to have an academic profile equivalent to the first three years of this degree programme. Study equivalent to the following University of Edinburgh courses is required: Chemistry 3A (CHEM09005) AND Chemistry 3B (CHEM09006) AND Chemistry 3P Practical and Transferable Skills (CHEM09007)
High Demand Course?	Yes

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 30, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6, Summative Assessment Hours 3, Revision Session Hours 6, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 151 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 100 %, Coursework 0 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Written Exam 100%, Practical Exam 0%, Coursework 0%
Feedback	Each lecture course has an associated tutorial. This will provide students with practice at problem-solving and tackling exam-like questions. It is also an opportunity for students to discuss any issues pertaining to the lecture course. Additional pre-exam revision sessions and/or individual meetings will be offered by the lecturers.
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name		Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)	Advanced Organic Chemistry (SV1)		180
Resit Exam Diet (August)	Advanced Organic Chemistry (SV1)		180

Academic year 2025/26, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 30, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6, Summative Assessment Hours 3, Revision Session Hours 6, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 151 )
Additional Information (Learning and Teaching)	One degree exam of 3 hours
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 100 %, Coursework 0 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Written Exam 100%, Practical Exam 0%, Coursework 0%
Feedback	Each lecture course has an associated tutorial. This will provide students with practice at problem-solving and tackling exam-like questions. It is also an opportunity for students to discuss any issues pertaining to the lecture course. Additional pre-exam revision sessions and/or individual meetings will be offered by the lecturers.
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name		Minutes
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)	Advanced Organic Chemistry (VV1)		180

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: Be able to discuss, rationalise and/or predict the outcome of template directed synthesis of macrocyclic and interlocked molecules, using both thermodynamic and kinetic principles. Be able to understand, discuss and predict how supramolecular species can act as functional compounds such as molecular machines or catalysts. Be able to recognise, classify and predict the outcome of various pericyclic reactions using methods such as Fukui Frontier Molecular Orbital or Woodward-Hoffmann analyses. Be able to utilise and predict how pericyclic reactions can be used to target complex organic molecules. Be able to discuss the principles of modern mechanistic organic chemistry, critically rationalise and interpret mechanistic data and suggest relevant experiments that can be applied to provide detailed understanding of organic reactions. Be able to discuss the theoretical basis and practical use of electronic structure computational methods to analyse organic systems and reactions. This will include being able to rationalise the considerations behind method and basis set choice based on the studied system. To rationalize reaction mechanisms and outcomes using appropriate computational data, and be able to interpretate noncovalent interaction analyses to understand their effect on structure and/or reactivity.

Reading List
Latest edition of "Organic Chemistry", Clayden, Greeves, Warren and Wothers, Oxford University Press. Additional reading material for each course unit will be provided by the individual lecturers at the start of each unit.

Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills	The course will develop generic cognitive skills such as evaluation and critical analysis, as well as honing communication, problem solving and working with others.
Keywords	Organic chemistry,synthesis,catalysis,mechanistic analysis

Contacts
Course organiser	Dr Paul Lusby Tel: (0131 6)50 4832 Email: Paul.Lusby@ed.ac.uk	Course secretary	Ms Zoe Burger Tel: (0131 6)51 7257 Email: zoe.burger@ed.ac.uk