Laney College

Stephen Corlett

Welcome

I teach Chemistry at Laney College, mostly Organic Chemistry – welcome to my website.  Here you will find information regarding Organic Chemistry (CHEM 12A and 12B) at Laney College.  Other useful information about Chemistry or other topics can be found under the Quick Links section.  For detailed information about the current class sections of CHEM 12A or 12B see the Navigation links to the left. The course descriptions for the classes that I teach are below.

Contact Information

phone:  510-464-3279 (or ext. 3279 on campus)

e-mail:  scorlett@peralta.edu

office:  Room A 276 (inside A 277, which is in the A building)

Chem 12A

Organic chemistry is the chemistry of the elements most commonly found in living systems, which comprise only a handful of the 100+ known elements.  These elements are:  carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, a couple of halogens, and a few metals.  The common combinations of these elements, known as functional groups, their properties and they way in which they interact, is what this class is all about!

Chem 12A is the first half of a two-semester course in organic chemistry.  The topics we will cover include:  orbitals and bonding; hybridization; acid and bases; properties and chemistry of alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, alkyl halides, alcohols, ethers, and thiols, dienes, and aromatic compounds; stereochemistry; conformational analysis; reaction mechanisms (SN1, SN2, E1, E2), reaction rates, equilibrium, addition reactions, radical reactions, dienes, UV-Vis, IR spectroscopy, MS and NMR analysis, and aromatic substitution reactions.

Chem 12B

Chem 12B is a continuation of Chem 12A.  Where the first semester of Organic chemistry is focused on the theory of the combination of the elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, a couple of halogens, and a few metals, the second semester is focused on observing patterns of reactivity associated with the most common functional groups.

Synopsis of topics:  Reactions and properties of conjugated systems, ethers, thiols, sulfides, aromatic compounds, aldehydes, ketones, amines, carboxylic acids and carboxylic acid derivatives.  Other topics include: nucleophilic additions, β-dicarbonyl compounds, pericyclic/sigmatropic reactions, carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, proteins, nucleotides, and heterocyclic compounds.