Organic Chemistry I
MIT's 5.12 introduces the structure and reactivity of organic molecules, with emphasis on substitution and elimination reactions and the chemistry of the carbonyl group. The course also covers the basics of aromatic compound chemistry. Materials on MIT OpenCourseWare include lecture notes, problem sets with solutions, and exams covering topics such as alkyl halides, nucleophilic substitution mechanisms, elimination pathways, and carbonyl reactivity in aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids. The course builds the mechanistic reasoning skills needed for later organic chemistry study, walking through how electron movement explains why reactions proceed the way they do. No enrollment or certificate is offered; all materials are free to use under MIT's open license, self-paced, and intended for students with a prior general chemistry background.