Organic Chemistry

 The organic chemistry faculty at Illinois welcome your interest in our area. The field of organic chemistry has both a rich history and modern dynamism that seamlessly interface with biology, medicine, materials science, and a range of other disciplines. Although the field has changed enormously in the past two decades, the core interests of the organic chemist remain unchanged. The efforts of students within the organic chemistry area are focused on the preparation and study of novel organic compounds, the understanding of structure and reactivity, and the development of new reactions and processes. A modern manifestation of organic chemistry is the synthesis of function.

The breadth of organic chemistry today presents exciting new opportunities, while at the same time presenting new challenges for graduate education. The organic faculty at Illinois have met this challenge by developing an innovative curriculum and program of study that is focused on fundamental disciplinary knowledge, while providing the breadth of skills in speaking, writing, and creating thinking that are required for effective interdisciplinary research. Our students receive research training in an integrated program that exposes them to a wide range of critical techniques, concepts, and methods that they will use to drive future advances in chemistry.

The American Chemical Society has called the Department of Chemistry at Illinois "a major force in chemical education" in the U.S. The National Research Council and U.S. News and World Report both consistently rank Illinois near the top and among the most elite chemistry departments in the U.S. For decades, our department has served as a gateway to students who pursue academic and industrial careers in organic chemistry, along with many other career paths.

At Illinois, we are the only Department of Chemistry located within a School of Chemical Sciences (SCS). Major service facilities used by organic chemistry students and managed by SCS include state-of-the-art NMR, mass spectrometry, and X-ray instruments. Academically, SCS is closely allied with other departments and interdisciplinary facilities such as the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, the Institute for Genomic Biology, the Materials Research Laboratory, and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science. Therefore in your graduate education at Illinois, you will receive strong fundamental training in organic chemistry and also interact with faculty and students from many other disciplines.

We hope you will join us in Urbana!