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Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Organic Chemistry

Organic chemistry involves the study of the structure, properties, reactions and synthesis of compounds that are primarily based on carbon, although a wide variety of other atoms such as nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur and many metals may also be present. Carbon based compounds have an extremely rich chemistry and make life itself possible (proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids are carbon based compounds). Carbon compounds are also the foundation of the many natural and synthetic materials that we depend on as a society and individually, such as pharmaceutical products (medicines), energy (petroleum based products), clothing (wool, cotton, nylon, polyester), and plastics and polymers (PVC, synthetic rubber, carbon fiber reinforced plastics).

Table 1: Organic Chemistry Faculty
Name Rank
Saeed Attar, Ph.D. Professor
Qiao-Hong Chen, Ph.D. Associate Professor
Kristi Closser, Ph.D. Assistant Professor
Joseph R. Gandler, Ph.D. Professor
Kalyani Maitra, Ph.D. Assistant Professor
Santanu Maitra, Ph.D. Professor

The organic chemistry faculty are responsible for teaching the following department courses in organic chemistry as well as general chemistry courses.

Table 2: Organic Chemistry Courses
Course Num. Course Name
CHEM 8 Elementary Organic Chemistry
CHEM 128A Organic Chemistry I
CHEM 128B Organic Chemistry II
CHEM 129A Organic Chemistry Laboratory I
CHEM 129B Organic Chemistry Laboratory II
CHEM 230 Advanced Organic Chemistry
CHEM 235 Physical Organic Chemistry