This welcome letter is designed to ensure that you enter the course prepared to begin learning, and to provide preview of some course policies.  Full course policies will be available in the course syllabus which will be given to you during our first class meeting. This welcome letter is subject to change; last updated 10/22/2025.

Instructor Information

Dr. Alexandra Kahane   

If you have any questions about the course before the semester starts, feel free to contact me via email: akahane@cuesta.edu  

Office Hours during the semester for helping students: TBD and by appointment

Welcome!

Welcome to Chem 212B Organic Chemistry II! I can’t wait to share my favorite part of chemistry with you.

Chemistry 212B is the second semester of a one-year course in the fundamental principles of organic chemistry.  You will be expanding your knowledge of reactions and mechanisms by examining ethers, epoxides, carboxylic acid derivatives, carbonyl compounds, and aromatic compounds, and learn how to use your knowledge to build molecules using multiple reactions. Nuclear magnetic resonance and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy will be added to your spectroscopy tool kit and you'll learn how to deduce the structure of unknown molecules using only spectroscopy.  Some biochemical applications of organic chemistry (carbohydrates, proteins) will also be covered. 

Official Course Description: Chemistry 212B is the second semester of a one-year course in the fundamental principles of organic chemistry.  Includes the study of mechanisms and reactions of carbonyl compounds, acid derivatives, and aromatic compounds. Structure elucidation using spectroscopy, multi-step synthesis, and some biochemical applications of organic chemistry will be studied. 

Prerequisite: CHEM 212A Organic Chemistry I

Required Student Availability

For this course, you'll be in lecture Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:00-10:20am.  Your lab time will be determined by the section of the course you register for:

• 30798 will have lab Mondays and Wednesdays 9:00-11:50am
• 35226 will have lab Mondays and Wednesdays 1:00-3:50pm 

Student Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course you will be able to:

1. Predict the products and write the mechanisms of organic chemical reactions.
2. Propose multi-step syntheses using retrosynthetic analysis.
3. Deduce molecular structure and experimental product purity using spectroscopic techniques.
4. Safely perform organic chemistry lab experiments utilizing appropriate apparatus and glassware.

How is This Course Set Up?

This course includes both lecture and lab, so we'll be learning about organic chemistry theory like reactions, mechanisms, synthesis, etc. in the lecture portion of the lab, and then engaging with those theories in our lab experiments.  

The lecture portion of this course will be delivered in a "flipped" format.  This means that you'll first meet the lecture material out of class, and then we'll spend our class time working to better understand that material via presentations, groupwork, and asking and answering questions. This format allows you to to the easy part of lecture (listening and taking notes) by yourself so that you can do the hard part (building understanding and applying concepts to problems) in class where you will have support from both me and your classmates.

For labs, you'll work on a prelab assignment before lab that will help prepare you for the experiment.  In the lab, you'll use all of the lab techniques you mastered in CHEM 212A (plus a few new ones!) to perform some of the reactions that we learn about in lecture and record your results in your electronic lab notebook.  After lab, you'll gain experience formally communicating your results in lab reports written using American Chemical Society style. 

What is the Expected Time Commitment for this Course?

This course includes three lecture units and two lab units.  Each week, this means that you will be spending a minimum of 15 hours on this course.  This time estimate includes working through three hours of lecture material, and six hours of doing lab.  In addition, six hours will be spent working on assignments (both in and out of class).  Some students may need additional time to achieve mastery.

Required Computer Equipment, Skills, and Course Materials

Computer Equipment Needed:

• Constant access to a reliable computer with modern software and a reliable internet connection
  • Cuesta system requirements are listed on the Technical FAQs page
  • Have a backup plan in case your internet provider or computer goes down.  For issues related to accessing Cuesta's Canvas Site, email: support@my.cuesta.edu. 
• A phone will not be a sufficient device for you to access all course requirements
• Chromebooks Checkouts may be available for you to sign out for the semester from the Cuesta Library 
• You will need access to a scanner or scanner app (free phone apps include Genius Scan, Cam Scanner, etc).  

Technology Skills Needed

• Using your my.cuesta.edu email account
• Using Canvas
• Downloading, printing, and uploading files
• Scanning a document as a pdf
• Taking a screenshot/"snip" on your computer/tablet
• Watching videos

Required Course Materials

Required: Safety Goggles for in-person lab meetings 

• • I recommend the UVEX Stealth, especially if you will be taking more chemistry courses after this course.  While these are available in the bookstore, they are overpriced! I recommend looking online for a better deal. 
  • If you want to purchase goggles that are not the UVEX Stealth before the semester begins from somewhere besides the bookstore, PLEASE contact me and check that they are acceptable. The goggles must be chemical splash goggles, indirect vent, with the appropriate certification (Z87+); do not purchase just any goggles.
  • Do not purchase safety glasses! They are not permitted.

Optional but recommended: A scientific, non-graphing, non-programmable calculator capable of scientific notation (EXP or EE key) and logarithms (LOG and 10^x keys). Note: you may not use your phone's calculator during quizzes and exams

• • Examples include the Texas Instruments TI-30Xa or TI-30XIIS and the Casio fx-115ES Plus models or similar (approximate cost $10)
  • We use the calculator for only one chapter, so if you do not already have one, consider signing one out from the lobby of 2300.

Accessing the Course and Early Participation

The course will become available in Canvas no later than the first day of classes.  You must attend class and complete assignments that are due during the first week of classes.  Failure to complete these first assignments due the first week of classes may result in you being dropped from the course.  Accommodations will be made for any students that add during the second week.  I accommodate students from the waitlist (in order) as space allows, and I follow all policies and deadlines as noted in Cuesta's add policy , drop policy, and waitlist procedures.

Course Participation

All students in this class must work through the material at approximately the same pace so that they can help each other and participate in class.  Therefore, it is important to keep up with the material, come to class prepared, and submit all assignments on time.  However, I know that life happens, so wherever possible, I have built in some flexibility for late assignments.  Your course syllabus and syllabus quick reference guide will provide full details on this.  If you have an illness or other issue that keeps you from keeping up with the material, contact me as soon as possible so that I can work with you on any possible accommodations.  

Since participation is important in this course, students must continually participate in order to stay in the class. Excessive absences (missing 2 labs, 2 quizzes, or 2 exams) or neglect of coursework (below 50% in the 3^rd week, or missing 50% of assignments or participation) may result in a drop.  Missing 3 or more lab experiments will result in a non-passing grade.

How to Get Help with Course Material

If it were easy to simply read the textbook and immediately know chemistry, no one would need to take this course! I am here to help you, and I encourage you to ask questions early and often.  A section of the course orientation module I have prepared for you contains detailed resources for help including myself, free tutoring delivered by the Student Success Centers. 

Academic Integrity & Honesty

The use of generative AI is not authorized for use in this course. All the work that students submit for this course should be their own. Plagiarism is unethically paraphrasing and/or presenting someone else’s words, writing, images, or ideas as if they are one's own without citing and/or quoting the original source material, and this includes work produced with the use of generative A.I. (GenAI) tools. The use of AI tools is not permitted at any stage of the work process for any assignment. Violations of this policy will be considered academic misconduct. Different classes at Cuesta College could implement different A.I. usage policies, and it is the student’s responsibility to be informed of and conform to expectations for each course.

Although you may not use AI for any assignments submitted for this class, you can use AI outside of class to help you master the material.  Here are some ways you might do that:

• Ask GenAI to create a study plan for you. Input the topics you need to study for your exam, tell it when your exam is (eg in two weeks) and ask it to help you create a spaced repetition schedule that maximizes information retention.
• Upload a copy of a chapter topics list/notes and ask GenAI to quiz you on it. "Create 10 practice questions about these topics with varying difficulty levels"
• Explain a topic to GenAI and ask it to point out where your explanation is unclear or incorrect.

The goal is to use GenAI to help you think more deeply, not to think for you.

The purpose of this course is for you to achieve mastery of organic and biochemistry concepts.  If you copy work from other sources (other students, the internet, AI, your friend, etc.) for assignments, labs, quizzes, or exams, this will be detrimental to your understanding of the material and will make it less likely for you to succeed in this course and future courses.  Therefore, cheating will hurt you more than it will help. Everything I ask you to do in this class is designed to help you process and master the material.  Don't outsource your thinking.

Any form of falsely claiming work to be your own when it was not (copying off another quiz or lab report, unauthorized use of AI, etc.) or sharing your work with others is considered cheating.  Academic dishonesty in any form, including plagiarism, copying, using the internet (such as google, Chegg, or other sites), unauthorized use of AI, or allowing another student to copy off of you is prohibited and will not be tolerated.  Do not copy anyone else's work!  This is not learning, it is cheating.  If you aren't sure how to answer a question, ask for help from me, a tutor, or a classmate via Piazza, but do not copy someone else's answer, and be cautious YouTube or AI.  There are many chemistry videos on YouTube with out-of-scope information, and AI can be an unreliable narrator.  If you violate the academic honesty policy, you may receive a “0” for the assignment AND an equivalent assignment, or an F for the course.  Please review Cuesta’s academic honesty and student code of conduct.

Contact

I will provide discussion forums for your to discuss the course with your peers as well as with me.  I can be reached via Canvas messaging (Inbox), which I regularly monitor.  I respond to asynchronous student questions typically within 24 hours (often much faster!), but definitely within 48 hours (although I may not respond during weekends).  If you don't get a response from me within 24 hours, please don't hesitate to give me a nudge. I also will provide scheduled office hours in person, and by appointment (available in-person and via zoom).  There will be a link within the Canvas page that will take you to office hour information, the times of which will be announced once the term begins.

Technical Issues? 

For issues related to accessing Cuesta's Canvas Site, email: support@my.cuesta.edu. 

I look forward to meeting you soon!