The goal of the course is to acquaint you with the techniques and concepts that are used to study the mechanisms of organic reactions. By the end of this course, students will: understand the factors that influence rates and equilibrium constants, and how they are determined experimentally; understand how molecular orbital interactions influence the conformations and configurations of organic molecules; be familiar with concepts related to computational chemistry, including molecular mechanics, quantum chemical calculations, and basis sets; understand how to use linear free energy relationships to address mechanistic questions; be able to derive a rate law that corresponds to a proposed mechanism, and to analyze kinetic data; understand how to interpret the results of kinetic isotope effect experiments; be able to devise experimental approaches to probe mechanisms of complex reactions; be able to read and understand journal articles related to modern physical organic chemistry.