Stephen Corlett Home

Welcome

I am Stephen Corlett and I teach Organic Chemistry at Laney College.  At this webpage you will mostly find information regarding Organic Chemistry (Chem 12A/12B) at Laney College.  But you will find other useful information under the Quick Links section.  More information about the courses that I teach can be found under the Navigation links to the left.  Below are descriptions of the courses that I teach at Laney.

Contact Information

phone:  510-464-3279 (or ext. 3279 on campus)

e-mail:  scorlett@peralta.edu

office:  A276 (inside A277)

Chem 12A

Organic chemistry is the chemistry of the elements most commonly found in living systems, which comprise only a handful of the 100+ known elements.  These elements are:  carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, a couple of halogens, and a few metals.  The common combinations of these elements, known as functional groups, their properties and they way in which they interact, is what this class is all about!

Chem 12A is the first half of a two-semester course in organic chemistry.  The topics we will cover include:  orbitals and bonding; hybridization; acid and bases; properties and chemistry of alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, alkyl halides, alcohols, ethers, and thiols, dienes, and aromatic compounds; stereochemistry; conformational analysis; reaction mechanisms (S_N1, S_N2, E1, E2), reaction rates, equilibrium, addition reactions, radical reactions, dienes, UV-Vis, IR spectroscopy, MS and NMR analysis, and aromatic substitution reactions.

Chem 12B

Chem 12B is a continuation of Chem 12A.  Where the first semester of Organic chemistry is focused on the theory of the combination of the elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, a couple of halogens, and a few metals, the second semester is focused on observing patterns of reactivity associated with the most common functional groups.

Synopsis of topics:  Reactions and properties of conjugated systems, ethers, thiols, sulfides, aromatic compounds, aldehydes, ketones, amines, carboxylic acids and carboxylic acid derivatives.  Other topics include: nucleophilic additions, β-dicarbonyl compounds, pericyclic/sigmatropic reactions, carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, proteins, nucleotides, and heterocyclic compounds.