SFKKM9021U Advanced Synthetic Organic Chemistry

Volume 2013/2014
Education
MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences - elective, MSc in Medicinal Chemistry - elective, Cand.Scient.Pharm. - elective, Cand.Pharm. - elective
Content
Working in groups of two, students will be assigned 2-3 projects of varying length and difficulty. Students will develop practical skills by working with different synthetic organic transformations relevant to all settings where synthetic organic chemistry is implemented, especially the drug discovery process in the pharmaceutical industry. The different projects will all be directly linked to ongoing research projects at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the prepared compounds will be used by researchers at the Faculty at the end of the course.Students will get acquainted with complex reaction set-ups, i.e. working with very reactive, moisture- and oxygen-sensitive substances and reagents.Literature searches in on-line databases as Reaxys® (formerly Beilstein Crossfire), SciFinder Scholar, Science of Synthesis and Pharmaceutical Substances will be introduced generally and will also be an integrated part of the report that is to be submitted at the end of the course. A thorough search of possible alternatives to the methods used during the course must be made and evaluated, which gives students the skills to select between different procedures from a wide array of possible reagents and conditions. In the evaluation of the reports, emphasis will be put on whether the experimental work is described in such detail and quality that it meets the standards required for publication in international peer-reviewed chemistry journals. This includes the characterisation and verification of the purity of the material that has been synthesized. Using no other source of information, it should be possible for other students on the course to reproduce the experiments described in the report.
Furthermore, a literature survey should be described, including a discussion of the different options. A comparison of the different reagents and conditions used should form the basis for the selection of alternate synthetic strategies other than the ones implemented during the course.
Learning Outcome

Formål / Objective

To build the student’s knowledge of applied synthetic organic chemistry as well as to illustrate different methods, techniques and equipment. To teach participants to combine literature work and theoretical knowledge with laboratory work. Students will be trained in the use of handbooks, primary literature and on-line databases to enable them to address practical implementation when choosing between different synthetic routes.

Målbeskrivelse / Course outcome

At the end of the course, students should be:
  • Familiar with a wide selection of techniques routinely used in a modern synthetic organic chemistry laboratory.
  • Able to implement different methods of isolating organic substances, including determination of the identity and purity of compounds.
  • Able to conduct a literature search on a synthetic sequence with the goal of identifying possible solutions.
  • Able to evaluate and compare different synthesis procedures with regard to practical implementation. Factors such as cost, toxicity and problems with handling sensitive reagents and starting materials should all be considered.
  • Able to conduct literature searches to find information about specific substances and reagents, incl. commercial availability.
Literature
Primarily scientific papers from chemical literature, supplemented by Michael C. Pirrung’s: The Synthetic Organic Chemist's Companion, 1. Ed. 2007, Wiley.
Knowledge of the basic principles of organic synthesis and familiarity with the fundamental bond forming reactions are required. Attendants should be familiar with basic operation in an organic chemistry laboratory from selecting relevant apparatus, setting up, monitoring and evaluating the progress of a given transformation using standard basic laboratory equipment. The ability to interpret NMR and MS spectra in order to evaluate the outcome of reactions is also required.
•Laboratory exercises: 80 hours
•Literature searches: 4 hours
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Colloquia
  • 25
  • Practical exercises
  • 80
  • Preparation
  • 101
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Course participation
Written assignment
Prøveform / Examination type:
At the end of the course, each group must prepare a report detailing one of the projects they have been working on, including a section with a literature search relevant to the project. Subsequently, the students must present all aspects of their project (approx. 15 min presentation) at the final seminar.
Exam registration requirements
Active participation in the experimental laboratory work.
Marking scale
passed/not passed
Censorship form
No external censorship
Criteria for exam assesment
The report should be written as a original research paper using a predefinded template. The The quality of the report in combination with the oral presentation will form the basis of the final evaluation.