Chemistry Courses

Program | Faculty | Courses

All courses carry 3 credits unless otherwise specified.

513 Instrumental Analysis
With laboratory. Theory and practical application of modern instrumental methods for chemical analyses. Atomic and molecular spectroscopy, electroanalytical chemistry, chromatography, and mass spectrometry. Applications to actual analytical problems. Prerequisite: CHEM 315. Credit, 4.

515 Theory of Analytical Processes
Aspects of the theory underlying modern analytical chemistry. Topics treated in depth vary with instructor, but can include relevant aspects of quantitative analysis; essential signal processing for analytical techniques; chromatography and other separation procedures; optical spectroscopy and spectrometry; microfluidics; use of statistics for the analysis and treatment of data. Prerequisite: CHEM 315.

519 Electronic Instrumentation for Scientists
With lab. Analog and digital circuits. Electronically aided measurement. Concepts involving instrumentation. Data domain conversion circuits. Approaches to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. Hands-on hard-wiring and computer circuit simulation in lab. Prerequisites: year of physics; at least three junior/senior courses in student’s major; consent of instructor.

546 Advanced Inorganic Chemistry
Basic atomic structure concepts; stereo-chemical principles and bonding models applied to main group and transition metal species. Includes elementary molecular orbital and ligand field theory, and kinetics and reaction mechanisms of d-block complexes. Descriptions of metal-metal bonded and organometallic systems. Structure and bonding principles supplied to catalytic and biological system reactivity. Prerequisites: CHEM 241, 476.

551 Advanced Organic Chemistry
Mechanisms of some important organic reactions. Topics covered may include application of qualitative molecular orbital theory to pericyclic reactions, free radical chemistry, photochemistry, heterocyclic systems, cationic and anionic reactions. Prerequisite: one year of organic chemistry.

552 Spectroscopic Identification of Organic Compounds
Modern techniques for identification and structural analysis of organic compounds. Emphasis on the interpretation of spectra. Optional lab sections with opportunities to use spectroscopic facilities in the department, and to use spectroscopic techniques and procedures, such as nuclear-nuclear decoupling or 2-D NMR experiments (DEPT, COSY), spectral simulation and prediction, standard sample preparation methods. Prerequisites: CHEM 266H/268H or equivalent. Completion of a two-semester physical chemistry course prior to enrollment strongly recommended.

584 Advanced Physical Chemistry
Introduction to quantum mechanics and its application to chemical problems; electronic structure of atoms and molecules, molecular orbital theory, chemical bonding, potential energy surfaces, and molecular spectroscopy. Prerequisite: CHEM 476 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.

585 Advanced Physical Chemistry
Short review of thermodynamics. Introduction to statistical thermodynamics and its application to chemical problems. Statistical mechanical basis of thermodynamic behavior, e.g., entropy and attainment of equilibrium, and derivation of thermodynamic properties from basic microscopic description of molecules and solids, via quantum mechanics. Miscellaneous other topics may include gas imperfections, theory of liquids, adsorption, and molecular simulations. Prerequisite: CHEM 476 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.

648 Coordination Chemistry
Molecular orbital bonding theory, spectroscopy, magnetism, stereochemistry, and reaction mechanisms as applied to coordination species. Emphasis on transition elements. Prerequisite: CHEM 546 or equivalent.

649 Physical Methods in Inorganic Chemistry
Application of principles of spectroscopy to structural aspects of inorganic substances. Infrared and Raman, nuclear magnetic resonance, electron paramagnetic resonance, nuclear quadrupole resonance, Mössbauer spectroscopy, photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography. Prerequisite: CHEM 546 or equivalent.

650 Metals in Biology
Emphasis on structure/function relationships, acquisition and transport of metal ions, electron transport proteins, respiratory proteins, redox proteins and enzymes, metalloenzymes with nonredox roles, medical aspects and spectroscopic methods for structure/function determination. Prerequisites: CHEM 546, BIOCHEM 523, or consent of instructor.

660 Organic Reaction Mechanisms
Fundamental concepts of physical organic chemistry and methods for the study of reaction mechanisms are integrated with a detailed consideration of how the structure of organic compounds determines preferred mechanistic pathways and therefore chemical properties. Prerequisite: CHEM 551 or consent of instructor.

697 Frontiers in Organic Chemistry
Offered as three one-credit parts each, focusing on a topical area of interest such as supramolecular chemistry, materials chemistry, organometallic chemistry or bioorganic chemistry. Students have the option of taking one, two or all three parts. Consent of instructor required.

699 Master’s Thesis
Credit, 10.

710 Electroanalytical Chemistry
Principles of electrochemistry and their relation to the newer electroanalytical methods. Three class hours. Prerequisite: CHEM 513 or consent of instructor.

715 Spectroanalytical Chemistry
Theory and practice of modern chemical analysis methods based upon spectroscopic measurements of atoms and molecules in solid, liquid, gas, and plasma states. Includes x-ray, optical and radio frequency techniques. Prerequisite: CHEM 513 or consent of instructor. Credit, 4.

716 Chemical Separation Methods
Methods of chemical analysis using separatory techniques, emphasizing chromatography. Theory and laboratory practice of gas and supercritical fluids chromatography, liquid chromatography by adsorption, partition, exclusion, and ion exchange. Three class hours, one 4-hour laboratory period. Prerequisite: CHEM 513 or 515, or consent of instructor. Credit, 4.

721 Advanced Analytical Chemistry
With lab. Principles, practice, and use of instrumental chemical measurement systems. Emphasis on computer-based data collection and handling, including algorithms for enhancement of signal to noise ratio. Prerequisites: CHEM 513 or 515, and CHEM 519 or consent of instructor.

726 Applied Analytical Chemistry
Applications of analytical techniques to actual problems in industrial regulatory, and instrumentation development laboratory settings. The place of analytical chemistry in related disciplines. The analytical chemical academic-industrial interface. Visiting industrial seminar speakers. Format flexible. Prerequisite: CHEM 513 or 515, or consent of instructor.

728 Biophysical Chemistry
Chemical, physical, and biological properties of proteins and nucleic acids. Macromolecular structure of biopolymers; optical, hydrodynamic, and magnetic resonance techniques; multiple equilibria; relaxation kinetics, and conformational transitions. Prerequisites: BIOCHEM 523 and CHEM 471 or 475, or equivalent.

743 Crystallography and Solid State and Materials Chemistry
Crystal symmetry; the principles of X-ray and neutron diffraction techniques; methods of solving crystal structures. Bonding in solids; metals, covalent and ionic materials. The band model and solid state electronic structure. Crystal defects and non-stoichiometry. Electrical and magnetic properties of solids; superconductivity, organic conductors, ferroelectric and semiconductor devices. Prerequisites: CHEM 474 or 476 and CHEM 546 or equivalents.

756 Organic Synthesis
Important synthetic reactions, with emphasis on problems that may arise during organic synthesis. Develops students’ ability to propose own syntheses of complex molecules. Prerequisite: CHEM 551 or consent of instructor.

761 Organometallic Chemistry
Chemistry of compounds containing metal-carbon and metal-hydrogen bonds. Preparation, structure, physical properties, chemical reaction, and catalytic synthetic applications of organometallic derivatives. Topics of current interest stressed. Prerequisite: CHEM 551; may be taken concurrently.

775 Statistical Thermodynamics
Molecular theory of macroscopic properties of thermodynamic systems. Averaging; ensembles; probabilities and distribution functions; fluctuations, scattering and ensemble equivalence; quantum, classical and lattice statistics; applications such as computation of thermodynamic properties, imperfect gases, adsorption, correlation functions and Fourier transforms, polymer chain dynamics, phase transformations and radial distribution functions. Prerequisite: CHEM 476 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.

777 Chemical Spectroscopy, Technique and Applications
Techniques and applications of spin re-sonance spectroscopy, NMR, esr, nqr. Bloch equations, relaxation effects, chemical exchange, quadrupolar effects, solid state NMR, multidimensional NMR, Over-hauser effect and the analysis of complex spectra. Emphasis on biological or polymer applications depending on instructor. Prerequisite: CHEM 476 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.

778 Chemical Spectroscopy Theory
Microwave, infrared, Raman, visible and ultra-violet spectra and structure. Molecular geometry from rotational spectra, normal coordinate analysis, anharmonicity and dissociation, hindered rotors, crystals, intensities and charge flux, vibrational dichroism, non-linear inelastic light scattering. Prerequisite: CHEM 476 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.

781 Quantum Chemistry I
Review of basic postulates, Hilbert-space formulation of quantum theory, transformation theory. Rigorous treatment of approximate methods in quantum mechanics with reference to molecular quantum mechanics. Conceptual and systematic development of the Hartree-Fock model for many electron systems; a pedestrian view of quantum chemistry SCF calculation—orbital, basis sets, integrals. A conceptual introduction to post Hartree-Fock methods including configuration interaction theory, many-body perturbation methods, and coupled-cluster theory. Plentiful acronyms. Special attention to density functional methods. Selected topics in atomic and molecular collision processes. Prerequisite: CHEM 585 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.

782 Quantum Chemistry II
Special topics in quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics, including atomic and molecular collisons. Density and time-evolution operators for ensembles. Prerequisite: CHEM 585 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.

788, 789 Physical Chemistry of High Polymers
Structure of solid polymers, determination of molecular weights, sizes and shapes, mechanical properties of solid polymers, colligative properties of polymer solutions. polyelectrolytes, and physical chemistry of proteins. Prerequisite: CHEM 585 or equivalent. Credit, 3 each semester.

791 Special Topics in Chemistry
Topics of current interest in various fields of chemistry. Consent of instructor required. Maximum credit, 6.

791B Main Group Inorganic Chemistry
An investigation of the descriptive chemistry of the main group elements, with emphasis on their applications in biological, materials, polymer, and environmental chemistry. Topics include the bioinorganic chemistry of the Group 1 and 2 metals, the solid state chemistry of Group 3-5 and 2-6 semiconductors, inorganic backbone polymers and the organometallic chemistry of the main group elements. Prerequisites: CHEM 546 or equivalent.

891 Seminar
Conference, reports or lectures. Credit, 1 each semester. Maximum credit, 2.

892 Research Group Seminar
Discussion, oral presentations, problem solving, and reading of current literature pertinent to research interests of one or more faculty. For chemistry graduate students doing research. Graded Pass/Fail. Credit, 1 each semester; maximum credit, 4 for M.S.

896 Research Problem
Students prepare proposals for research problems primarily involving library research, not directly related to thesis topic, if latter has been selected. Credit, 4.

899 Doctoral Dissertation
Credit, 18.