Students

Chemistry 235: Techniques in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory (1 credit)

Course Level: 
Second Year
Academic Year: 
2007/2008

Chemistry 235 is a laboratory course, which is designed to accompany the organic lecture course, Chem 233. You can take Chem 235 at the same time as you are taking Chem 233 or after you have completed Chem 233. Chem 233 is offered only during the fall term (and sometimes in summer session) whereas Chem 235 is offered both during the fall term and the winter term and periodically during the summer session. NOTE: if you take Chem 233 and do not pass the course, you can still take Chem 235 during the next term.

A laboratory course in organic chemistry is designed to illustrate material that has been discussed in the classroom. But in addition to that, it is hoped that the laboratory will bring a more realistic approach to the many structural formulas you will encounter. For instance, diethyl ether is more than just a compound with the formula C2H5OC2H5 - it is a low-boiling, colourless liquid with a characteristic odour, which due to its excellent solvent properties and immiscibility with water, is often used in extraction processes. This lab course should teach you good synthetic methods and help you develop an analytical approach to problem solving in the laboratory. At the beginning of the course you will be introduced to simple techniques such as separation, purification and identification by instrumental analysis and be given many opportunities to "fine tune" your skills.

Information about various aspects of the Chem 235 course is available online at: http://groups.chem.ubc.ca/chem203/Chem_203.html

It is also our intention in this laboratory course to make the students more environmentally aware of the safety hazards associated with the chemicals they will be handling and the proper methods of disposal of all wastes generated in these experiments.

The required Chem 235 lab manual is packaged with two accompanying CDs that illustrate the various techniques that will be taught in this course.  You can purchase the lab manual package from the UBC Bookstore and you should bring it with you to the first week of labs when you will be going through a checkin and orientation session (it is a good idea to read the “Introduction” portion of the lab manual prior to coming to the orientation session!) .   For the 2006-07 academic session, the Chem 235 course starts on September 12, 2006 and January 9, 2007.  If you are registered to take the course in January, please do not purchase the required lab manual until December or January (since the Bookstore does not receive the full order of manuals in September).