Uday Maitra Dept of Organic Chemistry Indian Institute

Uday Maitra, Dept of Organic Chemistry Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore maitrau@gmail. com/080 -2360 -1968 My coordinates: 13. 0165, 77. 5686 NCCT-2014 HBCSE, Mumbai 1 th 13 December 2014

“I used to experiment with Chloroform as I wanted to get into the subconscious mind. It is a highly powerful state of mind where you can memorise quickly. ”

Outline • Chemistry in High school * brief discussion on an ongoing survey • Some examples from high school textbooks • Asking questions • Organic chemistry curricula in UG and PG levels • Computers/internet – useful resources, a few examples • Some interesting thoughts

Organic Chemistry in High School End of Class 11 • Some basic principles and techniques of Organic Chemistry • Hydrocarbons 2 nd half of Class 12 • Haloalkanes and haloarenes • Alcohol, phenol and ethers • Aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids • Amines • Biomolecules • Polymers • Chemistry in everyday life

Questions asked to students who finished high school in 2014 • Your name • Your high school name and location: • When did you first study Chemistry as a separate subject? • Which topics/chapters in Chemistry did you like the most? Why? • Which topics/chapters in Chemistry did not interest you at all? Why? • Did you do any laboratory experiments? • Which experiments did you do? Which one did you like the most? • Did you do any chemistry experiment (e. g. a project) not connected with your syllabus? If so, please give some details. • Did any of your chemistry teachers use an innovative method to teach? If so, could you briefly describe? • Do you think Chemistry teaching in schools needs to be improved? If the answer is yes, could you say in a few lines what differences would have made you more interested in Chemistry?

Representative response to four important questions Which topics/chapters in Chemistry did you like the most? • Organic Chemistry, since no memorization was required once you know the concepts • Organic chemistry as it is fun to know how reaction works and making new compounds using reactions • States of matter, Chemical bonding and Molecular Structure • ‘Atomic structure', 'bonding' were and are the subjects which fascinate me • The atomic structure, Chemical bonding, Electro-chemistry, Coordination chemistry and Organic mechanisms • Organic Chemistry part, because I find some logical things here, where I can use my brain, to propose a mechanism, or to explain why something is happening like that, & this organic part is much more organized. • Periodic table properties. It was well organized. • I like the chemistry in everyday life and the chemistry behind the things which happen in our surrounding

Which topics/chapters in Chemistry did not interest you at all? • Thermodynamics, Organic, s, p and d-block elements because I did not understand the mechanism of organic molecules • Solid state chemistry • Thermodynamics, surface chemistry • 'Electrolytic solutions' and all those normality molarity calculations were boring; so were the Board’s syllabi on inorganic chemistry. • Electrochemistry. The flow of electrons was not clearly explained • Kinetic theory of gas, I don't know why • The detailed study of the Periodic table • Chemistry of p-block elements

Did any of your chemistry teachers use an innovative method to teach? • Used models to teach organic chemistry and structures • Yes, he used ball and stick models while teaching stereochemistry • Yes, one of them, but most of them were monotonous. • NO. They have taught some remembering techniques like. . . VIBGYOR • Yes. one of our teacher showed us many experiments when we were in class VIII.

Do you think Chemistry teaching in schools needs to be improved? • More practicals and more reaction mechanisms, may be. • Yes. Labs are not well equipped. Not funded properly. Scarcity of compounds and reactants like Nessler reagent • Inorganic chemistry should be taught conceptually and the syllabus should be accordingly changed. • Reaction Mechanisms have to be introduced before one starts reading about organic chemistry • Yes, Teachers can use projectors and pictures. No one thinks that remembering hard reactions are the main part of Chemistry. • Use some e-technology to show the actual things which we r studying as theory. using some model, doing experiments from very basic levels • All the teachers teach organic reactions without reaction mechanism • More practicals • Various software, models and Internet should be taken to teach chemical and crystal structures • Chemistry needs to be taught in a more interactive manner, and should not solely test the memory skills of a student. Demonstrations and visually stimulating experiments related to the concepts being taught can motivate many students to look at chemistry as a viable career option.

Electrochemical concepts Give examples of each class Mention uses in real life

• 9 volt battery • 2 pencils • Petridish on an overhead projector • Water with vinegar • p. H indicator • Water with common salt • Starch iodide paper

The power of

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1944 was awarded to Isidor Isaac Rabi "for his resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei". “My mother made me a scientist without ever intending to. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: So? Did you learn anything today? But not my mother. “Izzy, ” she would say, “did you ask a good question today? ” That difference — asking good questions — made me become a scientist. ”

Undergraduate – organic chemistry courses 1 st Semester Structure, bonding, organic chemistry basics 2 nd Semester Stereochemistry and Conformation 3 rd Semester Substitution at sp 2 carbon (carbonyl system) Nucleophilic and Electrophilic aromatic substitution Radical substitution Addition reaction 4 th semester Spectroscopy: NMR, IR, UV and MS Addition to C=O, Carbonyl Reduction: Elimination reaction: Acyclic and cyclic system, Rearrangements 5 th Semester Organometallic Chemistry Nitrogen compounds: amines Transformations Enolate chemistry; Synthetic Strategy Asymmetric synthesis Carbocycles and Heterocycles: synthesis and reactions Green Chemistry 6 th Semester Unit I: Pericyclic Reactions Advanced spectroscopy Polymers and nanomaterials Unit II: Biomolecules Carbohydrates Amino acids and peptides Proteins and Nucleic acids (Why lipids are excluded? ? ? )

Postgraduate – organic chemistry courses 1 st Semester Stereochemistry, Pericyclic reactions, spectroscopy 2 nd Semester Synthetic methodology, heterocyclic chemistry, natural products Physical organic chemistry? ? ? 3 rd Semester Organic photochemistry and radical reactions 4 th Semester Organotransition metal chemistry, Asymmetric synthesis, synthesis of complex organic molecules, natural products Organic specialization Heterocyclic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, stereochemistry of polycylic compounds, bioorganic chemistry

Chemistry Education Links… Links for Chemists http: //www. liv. ac. uk/chemistry/links/link. html Organic Chemistry Division, ACS http: //www. organicdivision. org/ Organic Data tables http: //www. chem. wisc. edu/areas/organic/index-chem. htm Learn Chemistry http: //www. rsc. org/learn-chemistry/ Science is Fun http: //scifun. chem. wisc. edu/ Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore) http: //www. ias. ac. in

…Chemistry Education Links Periodic Table http: //www. meta-synthesis. com/webbook/35_pt/pt. html Classic Chemistry https: //web. lemoyne. edu/giunta/ Classic Papers https: //web. lemoyne. edu/giunta/papers. html List of Name reactions (about 145) http: //www. monomerchem. com/display 4. html Demystifying Synthetic Organic Experimental Techniques http: //chem. rochester. edu/~nvd/ Molecule of the Month http: //www. bris. ac. uk/Depts/Chemistry/MOTM/motm. htm

Demonstrations and Experiments Demonstration Lab at Madison http: //www. chem. wisc. edu/deptfiles/genchem/demonstrations/Default. htm Delights of Chemistry http: //www. chem. leeds. ac. uk/delights/ Lab experiments http: //www. oc-praktikum. de/nop/en-experiment-3021 -overview

Free Chemistry Software Links http: //www. sciencegeek. net/Chemistry/chemware. shtml http: //www. claessen. net/chemistry/soft_en. html http: //www. internetchemistry. com/chemistry-index. html http: //ww 2. chemistrycoach. com/ http: //hbell. chem. vt. edu/simulation/hb 2/TESTPAGE. htm

A simple demo on reactions Br - CH 3 -CH 2 -CH 2 Br Primary bromide CH 3 -CH 2 -CH-CH 3 Secondary bromide (CH 3)3 C-Br Tertiary bromide Which one reacts fastest in an SN 1 reaction? R-Br + R’-OH = R-OR’ + H-Br (CH 3)3 C-Br Tertiary bromide (CH 3)3 C-Cl Tertiary chloride Which one is a better leaving group, Cl or Br?

Some more resources… Organic Chemistry (Mc. Murry) Maxwell distribution (vs. temperature, vs. mass) Titration of a weak acid, Chromatogram simulation J. Chemical Education Software (http: //www. jce. divched. org/jce-products)

Journal of Chemical Education Chemistry Comes Alive!

Water expands on freezing Optical rotation Burning of magnesium in CO 2 The beating mercury heart The ‘feather touch’ experiment

Samples from J. Chem. Educ. Advanced Chemistry Software Collections CD Visualizing normal modes GC Instrument simulator

A few interesting thoughts. . . • No routine home asssignments • Ask the students to submit a question and its probable answer (must be backed up with an appropriate reference) (question and answer cannot be from any textbook, question bank, or from any school/college or competitive examination) • Enjoyable: read books, research papers, and most importantly, think! • Every student comes up with a different question

A few interesting thoughts. . . Ask the students to come up with a question from a structure, plot, or reaction sequence (relevant to the course)

A few interesting thoughts. . . Provide a question with answer(s), which may be correct, partially correct, or completely wrong! Ask the student to read the question, and evaluate the answer.

An example

A few lectures from my website (need to be updated) http: //orgchem. iisc. ernet. in/faculty/um/teaching. html • Stereochemistry and Conformation • Revisiting Nucleophilic Substitutions • Kinetics and Reaction Mechanism • Primary Kinetic Isotope Effect • Secondary Kinetic Isotope Effect • Enzyme-inhibitors as Drugs • Unusual Molecules

maitrau@gmail. com

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