Physical Organic:Molecular Logic: Decoding and Designing Chemical Reactivity

Catalog description

Molecular Logic is a cutting-edge course that reimagines traditional physical organic chemistry for the digital age. This course introduces students to the fundamental principles governing molecular structure, reactivity, and design, while equipping them with modern computational and data-driven tools to tackle complex chemical problems. Molecular Logic is designed to be field-agnostic, as the concepts and techniques covered here can be applied to problems ranging from organometallic catalysts to molecular materials and chemical biology. The course covers essential topics such as molecular orbital theory, linear free energy relationships, stereoelectronic effects, and reaction mechanisms, integrating these concepts with state-of-the-art computational methods, data science techniques, and machine learning applications. Students will gain practical experience in computational approaches to modern reaction analysis, while exploring applications in data-driven molecular design and optimization. This interactive learning strategy bridges theory with real-world applications, preparing students for the interdisciplinary nature of modern molecular research and industry. This course is suitable for: • Upper-level undergraduate students in chemistry or chemical engineering, with prerequisites being organic chemistry ( 09-220 , 09-218 , or similar) and physical chemistry ( 09-347 , 09-344 , 06-310 , or similar); • Graduate students in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science and engineering, mechanical engineering, computational biology, machine learning, and related fields. There are no formal prerequisites for graduate students. Familiarity with the Python programming language is recommended but not formally required. Prerequisites: ( 09-218 or 09-220 ) and ( 09-344 or 09-347)