CHEM20020: Chemistry: Structure and Properties

5 multiple choice tests (1.5 hour time limit) roughly every two weeks (corresponding to each lecturer's respective sections) where the top 4 scores are averaged and count for 20% of overall mark, 80% final exam of 3 hour duration.

Lecturers: I found the lecturers very good for this subject. Uta and Evan were great, Alessandro was good and although I was worrying about Stephen, he definitely had improved from last I had him as a lecturer (Reactions and Synthesis for S1). I would say that the lecture notes are very good, aside for some of Stephen's sections where he annoyingly overlays autoshapes and text boxes over successive slides. The main problem I had with this subject was that for some of the sections, particularly Alessandro's, the practical use of the content was completely hidden away until the last lecture. This made it hard to stay motivated to learn the content up until that point for me.

Finally, BEWARE OF STEPHEN BESTS' SECTION. When I took this class, he taught us at the end of the semester, and his section is BY FAR the most packed with content. There is a lot to remember in his part, so even though you may feel like the semester is winding down, do not underestimate his section.

Uta's Section: Uta's lectures cover the stereospecificity or lack thereof of reaction mechanisms like substitution, addition, elimination and electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions on aromatic and heteroatomic aromatic systems. Also, her section covers more ways to classify stereoisomers in addition to the regular R and S, E and Z you would have done in Chem 1.

Alessandro's Section: Alessandro's lectures cover symmetry in chemistry which is a real test on how you can visualize molecules rotating/reflecting/ inverting etc. This is something you wouldn't have encountered before, and perhaps dusting off your model kit would be helpful to you. There is some simple maths to do in this section.

Evan's Section: Evan's lectures cover quantum chemistry in more depth than in Chem 1/2 including the particle in a box, harmonic oscillator, morse oscillator and a particle on a ring/sphere. The bulk of his section consisted of focusing on vibrational and rotational transitions for molecules. There is some pure memory involved this part and a good amount of simple math formulas to remember.

Stephen's Section: Stephen's lectures cover coordination chemistry and reactions of these complexes, and catalysis. There is a LOT of memory work involved this part and the amount of content is probably comparable to at least 2 of the other sections combined.

Assessment: The assessment is exactly the same as was for Reactions and Synthesis. The tests are relatively simple assuming you are able to complete the tutorial questions with confidence and without looking at the solutions, and I would suggest trying out some past exam sections as preparation as the questions can be similar. Of course the 80% exam is very daunting, however there is no way to avoid it, and the limited number of practice exams can make preparation a little tough.

Recommendation: If you are doing a Chemistry major, I believe you have to do this subject, however since I am a Chemical Engineering (Systems) Major, I took this as a science elective. While the lecturers were good and the assessment was quite fair, I've given the subject an average rating because:
- The lecturer's often don't make it clear on how the course is practically useful/make it clear at the very end of their sections.
- I felt that some of the sections were basically memory tests (Evan's and Stephen's parts) which limited more creative questions.
- To be frank, some of the course content just totally disinterested me by preference (eg. some parts in Evan's quantum chemistry sections).
Seeing that you may be locked into doing this subject if you are a Chemistry major, you will probably enjoy this subject if you like the more theoretical aspects of chemistry and physical chemistry.

Yes, with screen capture.

Uta Wille, Alessandro Soncini, Evan Bieske, Stephen Best.

Yes, 4 available.

3 out of 5

There are no recommended texts. Prescribed texts are:
McMurry, Organic Chemistry, 8th Ed. Thomson Brooks/Cole, 2012.
P Atkins and J De Paula, Atkins’ Physical Chemistry 9th Ed. Oxford University Press, 2010.
P. Atkins, T. Overton, J. Rourke, M. Weller and F. Armstrong, Shriver and Atkins' Inorganic Chemistry, 5th Ed., Oxford University Press, 2010.
However, to be honest, you should be perfectly fine without buying these. The lecture notes, tutorial questions and exam problems cover everything you need to know comprehensively.

3x 1 hour lectures per week, 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week, NO PRACTICAL CLASSES

2013, Semester 2

H1