Progress in Practice: Organic Chemistry in the Introductory Course II. The Advantages of Physical Organic Chemistry

TCE

The Chemical Educator

ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)

Table of Contents

Abstract Volume 2 Issue 2 (1997), S1430-4171(97)02113-4

Progress in Practice: Organic Chemistry in the Introductory Course II. The Advantages of Physical Organic Chemistry

Brian P. Coppola

The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1055

Published online: 26 June 1997

Abstract. The application of physical chemistry to problems in understanding the reactivity of organic substances is one of the significant events in the development of main group molecular chemistry. Over the last 50 years, the contemporary mechanistic model for structure-reactivity relationships has emerged from the seemingly endless and encyclopedic inventory of empirical observations. In many respects, the integration of these ideas into introductory instruction has been embraced but not necessarily melded. In this article, the argument is made that the existing richness of physical organic chemistry provides an overlooked strategy for blending introductory instruction in chemistry to be more representative of a more contemporary view than traditional introductory programs are capable of providing.

Key Words: In the Classroom; physical organic chemistry; curriculum; reform

(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: bcoppola@umich.edu )

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