Spring 2027

Organic Chemistry II

Organic Chemistry II covers molecular structure and bonding to predict reactivity in aromatic, benzylic, allylic, and carbonyl systems, emphasizing stereochemistry, regiochemistry, and spectroscopic analysis.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Brian Esselman4.2/5Kimberly Deglopper4.2/5Julian Cooper3.7/5 +3 more

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Ryan Stowe

The material was tough, and exams were described as test-heavy with difficult questions that required memorizing every detail of organic chemistry without cheat sheets.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Construct and use a transition state rendering to explain how donor-acceptor interactions result in the stereochemical or regiochemical outcome observed for a reaction

  • Construct and use an electron pushing mechanism or reaction energy profile to evaluate the validity of claims as to the outcome of a chemical process

  • Construct and use appropriate structural representations to explain observed differences in the physical and chemical properties of substances in terms of electrostatics, orbital overlap and energy

  • Construct and use a reaction energy profile to justify why a particular reaction system is likely to produce the product formed most quickly or which is most stable

  • Construct or critique an argument, using spectroscopic evidence, as to the product(s) emergent from a particular reaction process.

  • Design and justify a multi-step synthetic route capable of feasibly generating a molecular target from specified starting materials

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

CHEM 343

CHEM 345 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Brian Esselman

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.26/5 from 162 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.3/5 raw quality · 3.9/5 difficulty · 22 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Brian Esselman

Brian Esselman taught with clear lectures and provided practice exams and problem sets that students found helpful for preparation. He emphasized understanding concepts over memorization, while exams were described as difficult and requiring significant study time. One student noted the course graded on four exams and three quizzes.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.53 GPA, 64.5% A/AB (n=31 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.08 GPA, 44.2% A/AB (n=206 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.62 GPA, 75.6% A/AB (n=41 letter grades).

Kimberly Deglopper

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.41/5 from 46 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.1/5 raw quality · 4.2/5 difficulty · 23 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Kimberly DeGlopper

Kimberly Deglopper taught clear, well-paced lectures that balanced in-depth explanations with practical reaction examples, and she provided helpful grade reports and accessible support. Students found the course challenging but noted that the exams were fair, with no unexpected questions, and the grading curve made high grades attainable through consistent study and practice.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 2.93 GPA, 38.2% A/AB (n=186 letter grades); Fall 2025: 2.88 GPA, 37.2% A/AB (n=573 letter grades).

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.00/5 from 7 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 2.83 GPA, 36.5% A/AB (n=192 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.69 GPA, 29.3% A/AB (n=205 letter grades).

Ryan Stowe

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.47/5 from 34 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.1/5 raw quality · 4.2/5 difficulty · 12 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Ryan Stowe

Ryan Stowe taught thorough lectures and provided practice quizzes, though students disagreed on the difficulty. Some found the exam-heavy approach and expectation to memorize details frustrating, while others valued his approachability and office hours for understanding dense content.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 2.88 GPA, 35.9% A/AB (n=195 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.04 GPA, 43.0% A/AB (n=186 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.88 GPA, 37.7% A/AB (n=231 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 2.57 GPA, 23.5% A/AB (n=119 letter grades); Spring 2025: 2.75 GPA, 25.9% A/AB (n=112 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.83 GPA, 33.3% A/AB (n=222 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2013: 3.51 GPA, 74.4% A/AB (n=39 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Aubrey Ellison, Tehshik Yoon

Aubrey Ellison spoke quickly but explained concepts clearly and was willing to answer questions, while students found her exams fair though not easy. Tehshik Yoon was described as passionate and active on Piazza, providing many practice opportunities that helped make the difficult course more engaging for students.

AUBREY ELLISON is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Spring 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

BRIAN JOHN ESSELMAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ERIC STRIETER is recorded teaching in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

HOWARD E. ZIMMERMAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2007. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JEFFREY MARTELL is recorded teaching in Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JULIAN COOPER is recorded teaching in Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KIMBERLY DEGLOPPER is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARY ELIZABETH ANZOVINO is recorded teaching in Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MATTHEW BOWMAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ROBERT MCMAHON is recorded teaching in Spring 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RYAN STOWE is recorded teaching in Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SAMUEL GELLMAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2022, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SHANNON STAHL is recorded teaching in Spring 2009, Spring 2012, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2020, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

STEPHEN NELSEN is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

STEVEN BURKE is recorded teaching in Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2017. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

TEHSHIK YOON is recorded teaching in Fall 2008, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 2440
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 2440
LEC 003Classroom Instruction0 / 2200
LEC 004Classroom Instruction0 / 450
DIS 401Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 402Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 403Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 404Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 405Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 406Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 421Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 422Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 423Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 425Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 426Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 427Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 441Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 442Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 443Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 444Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 445Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 446Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LEC 005Classroom Instruction0 / 2330
DIS 471Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 472Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 473Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 474Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 475Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 476Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 477Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 478Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 424Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 428Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 462Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 461Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 407Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 408Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 447Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 448Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 429Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 430Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 431Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 432Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 463Classroom Instruction0 / 240
DIS 464Classroom Instruction0 / 240
LEC 006Classroom Instruction0 / 2400
DIS 481Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 482Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 483Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 484Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 485Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 486Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 487Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 488Classroom Instruction0 / 300

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Ryan Stowe

Students found Ryan Stowe's lectures thorough and encouraging of questions, while noting the dense content required extra time for problem sets to solidify understanding.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 2.90 GPA, 37.0% A/AB (n=827 letter grades); Fall 2025: 2.88 GPA, 37.2% A/AB (n=573 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.86 GPA, 36.2% A/AB (n=933 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Ryan Stowe

The material was tough, and exams were described as test-heavy with difficult questions that required memorizing every detail of organic chemistry without cheat sheets.

Past student reviews · Ryan Stowe

Some students found Stowe's pace frustrating as he sometimes skipped obscure topics, but others appreciated his accessibility in office hours and Piazza for answering questions.

Topics

  • Reactivity of aromatic, benzylic, allylic, aryl/vinyl halide, and carbonyl systems.
  • Stereochemical and regiochemical outcomes of chemical processes.
  • Spectroscopic evidence for reaction outcomes.
  • Multi-step synthetic design.

Skills

  • Explain stereochemical and regiochemical outcomes using transition states and donor-acceptor interactions.
  • Evaluate reaction outcomes using electron-pushing mechanisms and reaction energy profiles.
  • Explain physical and chemical property differences using structural representations, electrostatics, and orbital concepts.
  • Argue for reaction products using spectroscopic evidence.
  • Design and justify multi-step synthetic routes to generate molecular targets.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.10 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
CHEM 345 · Spring 2027

Organic Chemistry II

Recorded 2026-10-29
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261029T213040-0fa85c20",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:224:002769",
    "course_id": "CHEM 345",
    "course_uid": "course_daf4a0053696c0e96c07064d",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "002769",
    "source_subject_id": "224",
    "title": "Organic Chemistry II",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-29

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "e02c1b401cec913bc6764c2850a86ea77457aeb6bd582b2c4e881c8253fd6279",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "c9cd06eaa45f9ddf7e69faa38b89ff3d3dd995dd",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00"
}