This course will focus on a deeper understanding of the structure and reactivity of organic molecules with an emphasis on reaction mechanisms. It is a review of aspects of physical organic chemistry, covering structure and bonding, stereochemistry, and kinetics and thermodynamics, as well as molecular orbital theory with an introduction to the use of computational tools, such as Gaussian 09. Reactivity and reactions of organic moieties including enolates, carbenes, radicals, carbonyl compounds, and transition metal organometallics; mechanisms of named reactions; multistep total synthesis techniques and reactions; advanced NMR and mass spectrometric techniques as applied to research efforts in organic chemistry and related fields, such as pharmaceuticals, materials science, supramolecular synthesis, and crystal engineering.