Strategies and Tactics of Organic Synthesis

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course continues the study of key reaction types used in modern organic synthesis (see CHEM 322), with emphasis on orbital symmetry-controlled processes, reactive intermediates such as radicals and carbenes, and transformations mediated by photochemical and transition-metal catalysis. Students examine examples from the primary literature to see how these reactions are applied in the synthesis of complex target molecules, and are challenged to design effective routes to moderately intricate structures, with attention to chemo-, regio-, and stereo- and enantioselectivity as well as the scope and limitations of each transformation.