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01:160:307

Organic Chemistry

CHEMISTRY

School 01 — New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences
credits
4
Core
None listed
Typical seasons
Fall, Spring, Summer
Fall 2026 sections
30
Open snapshot
1 open in snapshot

Course guide

AI-generated overview

Course fingerprint 10 AI-generated signals

Difficulty

5/5
Why

Rutgers 307 covers core majors-level organic structures, mechanisms, stereochemistry, and synthesis patterns, and student discussion consistently treats it as demanding.

Workload

4/5
Why

Students repeatedly recommend steady weekly problem practice and recitation use, which suggests a heavy but manageable ongoing workload.

Pacing

4/5
Why

The official sequence moves from structure and stereochemistry into substitution, elimination, addition, radicals, and synthesis within one semester.

Projects

1/5
Why

The course is centered on reaction practice and mechanism reasoning rather than labs or project-style deliverables.

Exams

5/5
Why

Student advice focuses heavily on exam preparation and staying current on reactions, indicating that assessment pressure is a major part of the class experience.

Math

2/5
Why

Organic I uses some quantitative ideas like pKa and energetics, but the main challenge is mechanistic reasoning rather than formal math.

Memorization

3/5
Why

There is a sizable reaction vocabulary to retain, but both Rutgers guidance and student advice emphasize understanding electron flow over brute memorization.

Abstraction

5/5
Why

Mechanisms, stereochemical outcomes, intermediate stability, and synthesis strategy make the course highly conceptual and abstract.

Prerequisites

4/5
Why

Students need strong general chemistry foundations and must keep early organic ideas active because later units build directly on them.

Reading

2/5
Why

The evidence points more toward solving many problems and reviewing reaction patterns than toward a large assigned reading load.

What students tend to say

Public r/rutgers discussion around 307 consistently treats the course as demanding but learnable when students practice every week instead of treating it as a memorization marathon. The recurring advice is to use recitation and extra problems aggressively, keep up with reactions as they appear, and focus on why mechanisms work.

Consistency matters more than last-minute cramming

Students repeatedly recommend doing reaction practice and textbook or posted problems the same week the material is introduced, because the course builds quickly and later units assume the earlier mechanism vocabulary is automatic.

Recitation is treated as real study time, not optional background noise

Advice threads often point to recitation for simplified explanations and extra practice problems, especially when lecture feels too fast or too abstract.

Mechanistic understanding beats brute memorization

A common student message is that organic chemistry gets less overwhelming once you organize reactions by electron flow, stability, and functional-group change instead of trying to memorize isolated answer keys.

Outside resources can help, but they work best after lecture

Students mention textbooks, videos, and supplementary books as useful support, especially for re-explaining stereochemistry or mechanisms after class rather than replacing steady course practice.

Topic breakdown

A practical chapter-by-chapter view from foundations to applications.

5 modules

Module 1

Structures, bonding, and the language of organic molecules

The opening part of 307 builds the representational toolkit for the rest of the sequence: Lewis structures, line-angle formulas, formal charge, molecular orbitals, polarity, and the common bonding patterns for carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and halogens. This is where the course stops looking like general chemistry review and starts insisting on organic notation and three-dimensional reasoning.

line-angle structuresformal chargesigma and pi bondselectronegativitymolecular shaperesonance

Basic concept overview

Structure controls reactivity

Most of 307 can be traced back to how electrons are arranged, how stable intermediates are, and how three-dimensional shape changes which pathways are possible.

Mechanisms are explanations, not decorations

Curved arrows matter because they show where electron density moves, which is what connects reagents to products and predicts side reactions.

Stereochemistry is part of the answer

Rutgers syllabus material emphasizes that product identity often includes orientation in space, not just a molecular formula or functional group.

Reaction families are easier than isolated facts

SN1/SN2, E1/E2, alkene addition, and radical processes become manageable when grouped by common patterns rather than memorized separately.

Things to watch for

Memorizing products without understanding why one pathway wins

Ask what nucleophile/base strength, substrate type, solvent, and intermediate stability say about the mechanism before deciding on a product.

Ignoring stereochemistry until the exam

Practice wedge-dash drawings, conformations, and R/S or E/Z assignments while each chapter is fresh, not only during review week.

Treating old reactions as finished after each exam

Keep a running reaction map because the second half of the course assumes the first half's reagents and mechanisms are still available for synthesis problems.

Skipping recitation or practice sets when lecture felt understandable

Use practice to test whether you can generate a mechanism or major product on your own, not just recognize it while reading notes.

Fall 2026 sections

1 open · Busch, C/D

SectionStatusInstructorMeetingCampus
2111005ClosedJimenez, LeslieMonday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at HLL 114; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at HLL 114; Monday 2:15 PM-3:10 PM at CCB 1209HLL 114CCB 1209Busch
2211006ClosedJimenez, LeslieMonday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at HLL 114; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at HLL 114; Monday 5:55 PM-6:50 PM at CCB 1203HLL 114CCB 1203Busch
2311007ClosedJimenez, LeslieMonday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at HLL 114; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at HLL 114; Wednesday 5:55 PM-6:50 PM at CCB 1203HLL 114CCB 1203Busch
3111008ClosedLe, Kim-Phuong, Sahni, SeemaMonday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Thursday 8:45 AM-9:40 AM at CCB 1203ARC 103CCB 1203Busch
3211009ClosedLe, Kim-Phuong, Sahni, SeemaMonday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at CCB 1209ARC 103CCB 1209Busch
3311010ClosedSahni, Seema, Le, Kim-PhuongMonday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Tuesday 2:15 PM-3:10 PM at ARC 105ARC 103ARC 105Busch
3411011ClosedLe, Kim-Phuong, Sahni, SeemaMonday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 2:15 PM-3:10 PM at CCB 1209ARC 103CCB 1209Busch
3511012ClosedLe, Kim-Phuong, Sahni, SeemaMonday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 12:25 PM-1:20 PM at CCB 1203ARC 103CCB 1203Busch
3611013ClosedLe, Kim-Phuong, Sahni, SeemaMonday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Tuesday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at CCB 1209ARC 103CCB 1209Busch
3711014ClosedLe, Kim-Phuong, Sahni, SeemaMonday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Monday 5:55 PM-6:50 PM at CCB 1209ARC 103CCB 1209Busch
3811015ClosedSahni, Seema, Le, Kim-PhuongMonday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 5:55 PM-6:50 PM at CCB 1209ARC 103CCB 1209Busch
3911016ClosedLe, Kim-Phuong, Sahni, SeemaMonday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at ARC 103; Friday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at CCB 1203ARC 103CCB 1203Busch
4111017ClosedZHANG, HONGMEI, Le, Kim-PhuongMonday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at HCK 138; Thursday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at HCK 138; Friday 2:15 PM-3:10 PM at RAB 204HCK 138RAB 204C/D
4211018ClosedZHANG, HONGMEI, Le, Kim-PhuongMonday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at HCK 138; Thursday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at HCK 138; Monday 8:45 AM-9:40 AM at HCK 205HCK 138HCK 205C/D
4311019ClosedZHANG, HONGMEI, Le, Kim-PhuongMonday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at HCK 138; Thursday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at HCK 138; Monday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at HCK 214HCK 138HCK 214C/D
4411020ClosedLe, Kim-Phuong, ZHANG, HONGMEIMonday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at HCK 138; Thursday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at HCK 138; Thursday 10:35 AM-11:30 AM at RAB 204HCK 138RAB 204C/D
cachedSource: Checked-in Rutgers Schedule of Classes snapshotsUpdated when term datasets are refreshedMay be stale

SIRS teaching signals

Historical student surveys

Teaching

3.75

Course quality

3.03

Response rate

33.4%

Coverage

191 offerings · 2014–2025

InstructorOfferingsTeachingQuality
Sethi, Kiranjot223.722.85
Cullerton Denise164.593.91
Hove, Emmanuel123.522.56
Halder, Jayati113.412.58
Zhang, Hongmei113.322.32
Le, Kim-Phuong93.812.53

Course stats

Catalog and planning context

Credits

4

Current campuses

Busch, C/D

Current availability

1 open of 30

Catalog terms

Fall, Spring, Summer

Core codes

None listed

Loaded terms

5

Prerequisites

(01:160:160)<em> OR </em>(01:160:162)<em> OR </em>(01:160:164)<em> OR </em>(21:160:116)<em> OR </em>(01:160:166)<em> OR </em>(50:160:116)

Degree requirement lists

No direct degree-list membership appears in the checked-in requirement index.

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