Summary
Advanced course for PhDs, who would like to develop an advanced understanding of modern organic chemistry, its interactions with other disciplines, and gain insight into reaction mechanisms and the underlying concepts.
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| Organised by | VLAG Graduate School, in co-operation with Organic Chemistry |
| Date | Monday 19 October 2026 until Monday 31 May 2027 (8 sessions, once a month) |
| Course load | The study load of the full course is 2.4 ECTS credits per year (8 sessions). |
| Venue | Wageningen University Campus |
Registration
Participation is free of charge for PhD candidates of the Graduate Schools VLAG, EPS, PE&RC, WIMEK, WIAS and WASS.
Registration of ORC PhD candidates is organized within the ORC group. For others, send an e-mail to VLAG@wur.nl
Target group
PhD candidates with interest in Organic Chemistry, who are intrinsically motivated to develop an advanced understanding of modern organic chemistry, and its interconnection with other chemical disciplines.
Required knowledge:
ORC-12803 Organic Chemistry 1 and ORC-12903 Organic Chemistry 2 (or comparable), knowledge based on a standard text book such as e.g. Organic Chemistry by J. McMurry. Preferably, also ORC-30806 Structure and Reactivity.
Learning objectives
- Develop advanced understanding of modern organic chemistry
- Develop an understanding of the overlap of organic chemistry with neighbouring disciplines (biology, materials sciences, analytical chemistry)
- Develop an eye for synthetic strategies towards organic molecules
- Give an insight into reaction mechanisms and the underlying concepts
Course design
The course will be given via in-person meetings (ca. 2-3h each), which will include a presentation and a problem solving session. Students will receive literature for preparative reading and problems to study (ca. 5h) one week prior the meeting.
Course meetings are typically scheduled on Mondays afternoon at 3 pm. Dates: 19, 20 October, 30 November 2026, 18 January, 22 February, 22 March, 19 April, 31 May 2027.
Lectures will take place on Wageningen Campus, in Helix or Axis building. Hybrid session will be considered when necessary. Course topics do not repeat within a 3-year cycle. Students are encouraged to contact lecturers and suggest sub-topics that they wish to learn during the session.
Course materials vary with each session and may consist of chapters to read from the main AOC course textbook: The Art of Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms, Grossman, as well as selected scientific literature.
Programme topics 2026-2027
- 19.10.2026 – Dr Fedor Miloserdov Organic Reaction Mechanisms. General principles and Cations.
- 20.10.2026 – Dr Fedor Miloserdov Organic Reaction Mechanisms. Anions and Radicals.
- 30.11.2026 – Dr Laura Righetti Metabolomics and its applications in food science
- 18.01.2027 – Dr Eva Meeus New-to-Nature Biocatalysis
- 22.02.2027 – Prof. Han Zuilhof Click Chemistry
- 22.03.2027 – Dr Bauke Albada Chemical Biology
- 19.04.2027 – Dr Maarten Smulders Supramolecular and Dynamic Covalent Chemistry
- 31.05.2027 – Prof. Louis de Smet Porous Nanomaterials
Study load
The study load of the full course is 2.4 ECTS credits per year (8 sessions). ORC PhD candidates will attend the full course, while PhD candidates who are not affiliated with the ORC group can attend selected sessions (0.3 ECTS per session, if the preparative reading and problem solving were performed before/after the lecture). PhD candidates who previously attended the course can also attend new topics in this year with 0.3 credits per session and a cap of 6 ECTS credits.
Contact
More information about the contents of the course can be obtained from the course coordinator Fedor Miloserdov
For organisational matters, please contact Office ORC (for PhDs affiliated with ORC) or VLAG.