CHEM 2315      Organic Chemistry I Lab



Credits:   1.0

Taught by:   Sarah Morgan Black

Semesters offered:   Fall; Spring

Formats:   laboratory

Prerequisites:   Chem 1220 and 1225
Concurrent enrollment in Chem 2310 required.

Course Description:

This course is the first of two semesters of organic chemistry laboratory, and is designed to give you hands-on experience with the techniques, principles, and reactions of organic chemistry. You should have completed at least the first semester of the inorganic lab, Chem 1215, and should be concurrently enrolled in Chem 2310 unless you have special permission from the instructor.

The lab experiments have been designed to correlate with the material covered in the lecture course, and you will be expected to apply knowledge such as reactions, mechanisms, and properties of organic molecules learned in Chem 2310 to the procedures you will perform in Chem 2315. However, you will receive a grade for each course independently.

Course Objectives:

When you finish this class, you should be able to:
  • Practice safe handling and proper disposal of laboratory chemicals.
  • Perform necessary calculations such as stoichiometric amounts of reagents and % yields.
  • Accurately and objectively record experimental procedures and data and draw appropriate conclusions from experimental results.
  • Perform and explain the principles behind organic chemistry operations such as filtration, rotary evaporation, recrystallization, liquid-liquid extraction, TLC analysis, column chromatography, melting point determinations, and distillations, and obtaining IR spectra.
  • Synthesize organic compounds by running a reaction, isolating, purifying, and characterizing the product(s).
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the thought processes involved in organic synthesis by analyzing results from a virtual laboratory program.


Required Materials
1) Laboratory Manual for Chem 2315 and Chem 2325 by Sarah Morgan Black
2) Student Lab Notebook (with carbon tear-out pages)
3) Splash-proof goggles

All of these items are available from the Dixie College Bookstore. The lab manual will be used for both semesters of the course. The lab notebook has carbon pages which you will tear out and turn in for grading, and may also be used both semesters unless you use up all of the pages. To qualify as splash-proof, your goggles must fit tightly to your face and cannot have any holes.

All other materials, including equipment and chemicals, are provided using your lab fee. On the first day of lab, you will be issued a lab drawer with equipment worth considerably more than your lab fee you are responsible for the contents, and will be checked out at the end of the semester.