SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL SCIENCES

UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA`

11800 MINDEN, PENANG

KOT122 - ORGANIC
CHEMISTRY I (Group A)
September 13, 2018

Overview
1. Lecturers
a. Dr. Mohamad Nurul Azmi MOHAMAD TAIB (Chapters 1-6).
b. Prof. Dato' Dr. Hasnah OSMAN (Chapters 7-11).

2. Objective
a. To introduce first year students to the
nomenclatures and structures of organic compounds.
b. To instill concepts concerning
electronic structures and bonding, organic acids and
bases, and stereochemistry.
c. To discuss certain types of organic
reactions together with their reaction mechanisms
and short synthesis of organic compounds.
d. At the end of this course, students
should understand the significance between
nomenclatures and structures, together with the
chemical characteristics of organic compounds. They
should also know all relevant reactions about
mechanistic concepts such as SN1, SN2, E1 and E2.
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3. Course requirement and breakdown

a. Attendance at lectures and tutorials is COMPULSORY. Students have to REGISTER for

tutorials after 09.30 a.m on 18.09.2017 (Tuesday) at the FOYER of the School of
Chemical Sciences (G09). Tutorials will begin in the THIRD WEEK (24.09.2017
onwards) of the semester. Please download the tutorial list questions from
eLearn@USM.

b. Coursework (40 %) which includes FIVE writing assignment (15 %), Five quizzes
(10 %) and TWO tests [15 %, each consists of 40 multiple-choice questions (MCQs)].
Details of the FIRST TEST are as follows:

Test I:

Date : 25.10.2018 (Thursday)

Time : 9.00 a.m to 10.00 a.m

Venue : DPE 41

Test II:

Date :

Time : 9.00 a.m to 10.00 a.m

Venue : DPE 41

c. Final examination (60%) which consists of the following: (i) Section A: 40 MCQs (to be
completed in the FIRST HOUR. (ii) Section B: Four structured/essay questions. Students
are required to answer THREE questions in the remaining two hours.
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4. Text books

Organic Chemistry by Smith, J. G., McGraw Hill Int. Ed., 5th edition, New York, 2016.

5. Additional References

a. Wade L. G. Jr., ‘Organic Chemistry’, 7th edition,

Pearson Education, Inc., USA, 2010. ISBN-13: 978-0-321-61006-5
b. Bruice, P. Y., ‘Organic Chemistry’, 7th edition,
Pearson Education, Inc., USA, 2014. ISBN 13: 978-0-321-85310-3

6. Topic to be Covered

Topics to be covered (in teaching/learning sequence): No. of Lectures

Chapter 1: Structure and Bonding 2 lectures

Chapter 2: Acids and Bases 2 lectures
Chapter 3: Introduction to Organic Molecules and Functional Groups 3 lectures
Chapter 4: Alkanes 5 lectures
Chapter 5: Stereochemistry 5 lectures
Chapter 6: Understanding Organic Reactions 3 lectures
Chapter 7: Alkyl Halides and Nucleophilic Substitutions 4 lectures
Chapter 8: Alkyl Halides and Elimination Reactions 4 lectures
Chapter 9: Alcohols, Ethers and Related Compounds 4 lectures
Chapter 10: Alkenes 4 lectures
Chapter 11: Alkynes 2 lectures
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7. Timetable

Day Time Location

Monday 0800-0900 DKH
Wednesday 0900-1000 DKA
Thursday 0900-1000 DKA

8. Lecture Notes

Please download from eLearn@USM https://elearning.usm.my/sidang1819/

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9. Your Lecturers

Prof Dato’ Dr Hasnah Osman graduated with BSc (Hons) in 1985 and
Master degree in chemistry from the University Sains Malaysia (USM) in
1998. She obtained her PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of
Otago, New Zealand in 2005 with the thesis entitled: Synthetic Approaches
to The Angucycline Antibiotics. She was promoted to Associate Professor
in 2009, then to a full Professor in December 2014. From 2013 to 2015,
she was appointed as a Program Chairman of Organic Chemistry Section
and later was appointed as The Deputy Dean (Academic, Students and Alumni) at The School
of Chemical Sciences, USM. Her research interest is green approaches to the synthesis and
modification of selected natural products. The synthesized compounds were fully characterized
by Infrared (IR), 1D (1H, 13C) and 2D (COSY, HSQC, HMBC and NOESY) nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) experiments and mass spectral data.

Dr. Mohamad Nurul Azmi MOHAMAD TAIB (aka Dr. Azmi) was
graduated from University of Malaya for his BSc. (Hons.) Applied
Chemistry and MSc. (Chemistry). For his PhD, he was under
Co-tutelle program between University of Malaya, Malaysia – Ecole
Polytechnique, France under supervision Prof. Dr. Khalijah Awang,
Dr. Yvan Six and Dr. Marc Litaudon in 2015. In 2015, he joint IFM
NatProLab (UM) as a contract researcher where he work on research
for bioactive substances from Malaysian Flora. In 2016, he joint LSO, Ecole Polytechnique,
France as a PostDoc under program Jeune PostDoc, and he working on approaches to the
synthesis of kingianin skeleton. In August 2016, he move to Penang as a lecturer in organic
chemistry at School of Chemical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia.