Organic Bonding and Structure

About this Course

About the Course

In this course, Professor Max Majireck (Hamilton College) talks to us about organic bonding and structure. We begin by (i) asking what a bond is, delving into what physics can tell us about the interaction of atoms by Coulomb’s law, before looking at some of the advanced topics in bond dynamics we can learn about with the knowledge we will gain from these lecture; then (ii) looking at orbitals, specifically s and p orbitals, and how these are used to form the covalent bonds in organic molecules by a method known as hybridisation; before (iii) observing the differences between atomic and bonding orbitals; and finally (iv) using this knowledge to describe and explain where the electron density can be found in the single bond, the double bond, and the triple bond.

About the Lecturer

Max Majireck completed his postdoctoral research in chemical biology at Harvard University and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, designing small molecules to study disease biology, particularly cancer. He was selected for a fellowship from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. At Hamilton, he combined his passion for teaching, mentoring and research by designing a new course to highlight the role of organic synthesis in human health. He is also designing a research program that investigates new chemical transformations to produce tool compounds for studying neurological disorders. Majireck earned his doctorate in organic chemistry from Penn State.