Students

MOLS7053 – Research Topic: Advanced Organic Chemistry

2022 – Session 1, In person-scheduled-weekday, North Ryde

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Convenor/Lecturer
Fei Liu
fei.liu@mq.edu.au
Contact via fei.liu@mq.edu.au
4WW 330
Students are encouraged to arrange a meeting via email
Lecturer
Joanne Jamie
joanne.jamie@mq.edu.au
Contact via joanne.jamie@mq.edu.au
4WW 231
Students are encouraged to arrange a meeting via email
Lecturer
Koushik Venkatesan
koushik.venkatesan@mq.edu.au
Contact via koushik.venkatesan@mq.edu.au
4WW 123
Students are encouraged to arrange a meeting via email
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to MRes
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
This unit comprises study of an advanced topic in chemistry and biomolecular sciences. The area studied each year is tailored to the current student cohort. Emphasis is put on both the understanding of advanced concepts as well as their application in problem-solving and/or research environments. This unit provides the students with advanced and contemporary knowledge in the broad discipline of organic chemistry and focuses on topics that describe modern theories and practices in this area. As the control of change forms the heart of chemistry, this unit will examine the principles of change in more complex systems and in quantitative terms that are appropriate to graduate level studies. The molecular insight developed in this course will prepare students for creative research in basic and applied organic chemistry or interface fields. Topics may include but are not limited to: advanced structural chemistry and methods; mechanistic models and characterisation; advanced synthesis and catalysis; biomimetic processes and materials; molecular assemblies; reactive intermediates; and properties.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Propose mechanisms of multicomponent reactions given the starting materials and reagent or reagent and product
  • ULO2: Describe and outline modern theories and methods for understanding and analysing molecular structure and reactivity
  • ULO3: Demonstrate an understanding of key molecular design and control principles in reactive intermediates/pathways and their applications in materials, catalysis, and pharmaceutical research
  • ULO4: Demonstrate how to use small molecules to construct and interrogate complex chemical or biological systems
  • ULO5: Critically analyse primary literature such as journals and reviews and evaluate conclusions with constructive criticism
  • ULO6: Demonstrate oral presentation skills for effective communication of mechanistic analysis and structural characterisation

General Assessment Information

General Faculty Policy on assessment submission deadlines and late submissions: 

Online quizzes, in-class activities, or scheduled tests and exam must be undertaken at the time indicated in the unit guide. Should these activities be missed due to illness or misadventure, students may apply for Special Consideration.

All other assessments must be submitted by 5:00 pm on their due date. Should these assessments be missed due to illness or misadventure, students should apply for Special Consideration.

Assessments not submitted by the due date will receive a mark of zero unless late submissions are specifically allowed as indicated in the unit guide or on iLearn.

If late submissions are permitted as indicated in the unit guide or on iLearn a consistent penalty will be applied for late submissions as follows: 

A 12-hour grace period will be given after which the following deductions will be applied to the awarded assessment mark: 12 to 24 hours late = 10% deduction; for each day thereafter, an additional 10% per day or part thereof will be applied until five days beyond the due date. After this time, a mark of zero (0) will be given. For example, an assessment worth 20% is due 5 pm on 1 January. Student A submits the assessment at 1 pm, 3 January. The assessment received a mark of 15/20. A 20% deduction is then applied to the mark of 15, resulting in the loss of three (3) marks. Student A is then awarded a final mark of 12/20.

Assessment is based on assignments/workshops/presentations. These assessment tasks are provided so that you will have the opportunity to use the information gained in the lectures/ tutorials to test your degree of understanding of those topics and to gain discipline specific knowledge, problem solving skills, critical literature analysis as well as develop your own independent thinking. There is no final exam for this unit.

If you miss a class/tutorial or are late for completing an assessment due to illness or misadventure, you are required to 1) submit a request for special consideration no later than five (5) working days after the due date and 2) email the lecturer in charge of the topic and the Unit Convenor.

Please find further information on Special Consideration here: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/ my-study-program/special-consideration

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Assignments 40% Yes weeks 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11,12; details on iLearn
Oral presentations 36% No Weeks 4, 7, 10, 13
Workshops 24% No weeks 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11,12; details on iLearn

Assignments

Assessment Type 1: Problem set
Indicative Time on Task 2: 40 hours
Due: weeks 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11,12; details on iLearn
Weighting: 40%
This is a hurdle assessment task (see assessment policy for more information on hurdle assessment tasks)

8 Assignment sets in total; answering problem sets involve providing short answers and calculations with literature searches. These will be provided in class or via the unit web page.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Propose mechanisms of multicomponent reactions given the starting materials and reagent or reagent and product
  • Describe and outline modern theories and methods for understanding and analysing molecular structure and reactivity
  • Demonstrate an understanding of key molecular design and control principles in reactive intermediates/pathways and their applications in materials, catalysis, and pharmaceutical research
  • Demonstrate how to use small molecules to construct and interrogate complex chemical or biological systems

Oral presentations

Assessment Type 1: Presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 40 hours
Due: Weeks 4, 7, 10, 13
Weighting: 36%

Four 20 minute presentations on research from primary literature and critical analysis of results on a given topic.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Propose mechanisms of multicomponent reactions given the starting materials and reagent or reagent and product
  • Demonstrate an understanding of key molecular design and control principles in reactive intermediates/pathways and their applications in materials, catalysis, and pharmaceutical research
  • Demonstrate how to use small molecules to construct and interrogate complex chemical or biological systems
  • Critically analyse primary literature such as journals and reviews and evaluate conclusions with constructive criticism
  • Demonstrate oral presentation skills for effective communication of mechanistic analysis and structural characterisation

Workshops

Assessment Type 1: Quantitative analysis task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 34 hours
Due: weeks 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11,12; details on iLearn
Weighting: 24%

Six workshop tasks with discussion forums on literature topics
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Propose mechanisms of multicomponent reactions given the starting materials and reagent or reagent and product
  • Describe and outline modern theories and methods for understanding and analysing molecular structure and reactivity
  • Demonstrate an understanding of key molecular design and control principles in reactive intermediates/pathways and their applications in materials, catalysis, and pharmaceutical research

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

COVID Information and on-campus classes

On-campus teaching continues to be scheduled for Session 1, 2022. Masks are compulsory for all classes in indoor spaces and social distancing will be implemented wherever possible. Students will also be required to sanitise surfaces before and after use.

Students are requested to minimise the risk of spreading COVID to themselves and others in accordance with the university and NSW Health guidelines: https://www.mq.edu.au/about/coronavirus-faqs and https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/stay-safe.

Off-shore students Off-shore students must email the convenor as soon as possible to discuss study options.

Lectures will be in weeks 1-12. Tutorials/workshops will be conducted from weeks 2-13 (please contact each lecturer for more details).

Lectures will be presented as a combination of formal lectures and interactive Q&A discussions. Some lecture material will be available on the unit web site, while other material will be provided in the lecture class. At the graduate level, the students are expected to demonstrate a high level of independence in their learning. This means reading the required materials (and beyond), searching in primary literature, working through problems outside of lectures. Working on the assignment questions with peer consultation is permitted; however, individualised thought processes must be clearly demonstrated. In the tutorials/workshops the students will present their seminars on assigned topics. All students will be expected to participate in discussions.

The main source of materials will be from the primary literature (i.e. journal articles, reviews, and sections of research books). Francis A. Carey and Richard J. Sundberg’s Advanced Organic Chemistry A&B is the recommended text and an electronic copy of this can be downloaded from ilearn or the library’s web site. This text should be used as a reference or background source for the topics discussed.

Students are expected to use iLearn and access the web pages regularly for announcements, relevant links downloadable course material, and other supporting information. The staff will be available for consultations in person after an appointment has been made via email.

The offer this year is similar to the year before with some changes of specific topics drawn from the current primary literature.

Unit Schedule

Please visit the iLearn website for details.

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Unit information based on version 2022.02 of the Handbook