AO1 Molecular Orbitals in Organic Chemistry

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AO1 is a 3 part series, which runs over the course of three years in rotation and sees Molecular Orbitals in Organic Chemistry (the first part) being given this year. These lectures do not need to be taken in order. The series is as follows:

AO1 Part 1. Molecular Orbitals in Organic Chemistry (4L, current) These lectures introduce molecular orbitals – the fundamental description of electron distribution that chemists use to explain chemical bonding and chemical reactivity. There is no mathematics, only the basic physics. Topics include s-bonding, p-conjugation using the Hückel picture, hard and soft acids and bases, and reactivity using, with some circumspection, frontier orbital theory and the Salem-Klopman equation.

AO1 Part 2. Stereospecific Reactions in Organic Synthesis (4L, 2018) These lectures describe how the sense and degree of stereospecificity in several fundamental chemical reactions – substitution, elimination and addition – and the sense and degree of stereoselectivity in others – nucleophilic and electrophilic attack on double bonds with diastereotopic surfaces – can be explained by considering the molecular orbitals involved.

AO1 Part 3. Pericyclic Reactions (4L, 2019) These lectures continue the subject of stereospecificity, which is seen in its most powerful form in pericyclic reactions. The four classes of pericyclic reaction are described, and their allowedness and stereochemistry explained. The Woodward-Hoffmann rule is illustrated with the most telling examples.

Chemistry Graduate Students & Post Docs

Number of sessions: 4