STUDY GUIDE 1: CHAPTERS 1-3

CHEMISTRY OF ORGANIC AND BIOLOGICAL MOLECULES 1

Fall 2001

For the first examination, you should be able to:
  1. use critical thinking skills in analyzing problems
  2. use the unit factor (dimensional analysis) method in problem solving.
  3. express numbers in scientific notation to the appropriate number of significant figures and with the correct units.
  4. understand the difference between homogeneous (solutions) and heterogeneous mixtures and the difference between pure elements and pure compounds, giving examples.
  5. understand the principles underlying methods to separate the components of mixtures into pure substances; explain the principles of chromatography.
  6. understand the differences between chemical and physical reactions.
  7. briefly describe the development of our modern concept of the matter, including the ideas of the ancient Greeks, Phlogiston Theory, Priestly's discovery of oxygen, and the contributions of Lavoisier (development of quantitative chemistry; Law of Mass Conservation, demise of Phlogiston theory)
  8. explain Dalton's Atomic Theory and how it explained the Laws of Mass Conservation.
  9. explain our modern concepts of atoms (protons, neutrons, and electrons), the difference between molecules, atom, ions, molecular ions.
  10. name binary compounds of metals with nonmetals and nonmetals with nonmetals.
  11. understand the meaning of atomic number, atomic weight, and isotopes
  12. given the atomic number, determine the number of protons, electrons, and neutrons in an atom.
  13. write the electronic configuration of different elements by placing electrons into s, p, d, and f orbitals in inner and outer shells.
  14. explain how the structure of the periodic table, and the reactivity of elements in groups in the table is determined by the electronic configuration of the elements
  15. explain the different types of bonds (ionic, polar covalent, nonpolar covalent) between atoms or ions in molecules,
  16. determine the formal charge on an atom or ion, and determine if an atom in a covalent bond as a slight negative or positive charge
  17. draw the best Lewis structures for covalently bonded molecules, showing the formal charge and presence of slight positive and negative charge on the atoms within the structure
  18. name and draw the structure of common polyatomic or molecular ions
  19. describe how common polyatomic or molecular anions are derived from the reaction of common oxyacids with bases (water or hydroxide), drawing a mechanism to show how it may happen
  20. predict the geometry of the electrons clouds around the central atoms of a molecule or molecular ion, and the geometry of the actual atoms around the central atom using VSEPR or OSEPR theory.