CHE2FND
Fundamentals of Chemistry
(20 credit points, first semester)Coordinator: Dr Ian Potter
- Occupational Health and Safety (3 lectures)
Occupational health and safety receives the highest priority in theprofession of chemistry and so it is important to introduce students to the field. This is done in this component with three lectures covering topics such as chemical and laboratory safety, hazards and risks and an introduction to toxicology.
Textbook: McMurry, J., "Organic Chemistry", 7th edn, Thomson-Brooks/Cole, 2008.
- Stereochemistry and Aromatic Chemistry (12 lectures)
The forms or shapes of organic molecules are considered. Effects and applications in chemistry and in nature will be discussed. The topics covered in this section include geometrical isomerism, chirality, enantiomers and their properties, racemates and optical purity, conformational analysis of ethane type structures, cycloalkanes, diastereoisomerism, resolution techniques, control in electrophilic additions to alkenes, alicyclic compounds and carbohydrates.
The modern chemical industry stems from the accidental discovery in 1878, by an 18 year old student, of a benzene based dyestuff. Today, we encounter synthetic and natural "aromatics" in many aspects of our lives. This component covers the special chemistry of benzene and related compounds with particular emphasis on delocalised systems, aromaticity, resonance effects, combined inductive and resonance effects, electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions, polycyclic aromatics, Friedel-Crafts reactions, sulfonation, diazo reactions, substituent effects, disubstituted benzenes, useful intermediates.
Textbook: McMurry, J., "Organic Chemistry", 7th edn, Thomson-Brooks/Cole, 2008.
- Spectroscopy, Mass Spectrometry and Separation Science (12 lectures)
Chemists and biochemists are frequently confronted with the problem of identification of chemical species. This component introduces some of the methods for identifying organic molecules, namely infrared and NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and the separation science techniques of solid phase extraction, molecular exclusion and affinity chromatography.
Textbook: McMurry, J., "Organic Chemistry", 7th edn, Thomson-Brooks/Cole, 2008. Harris, D.C. "Quantitative Chemical Analysis", 7th edn, 2007.
- The Chemistry of Important Elements and the Periodic Table (12 lectures)
Chemistry is the study of the chemical and physical properties of the elements in the periodic table and this component will explore aspects of the elements, their origin and their chemistries. Topics which may be studied include the general properties of the elements and their periodic classification, the occurrence, isolation and uses of the noble gases, the halogens, and oxygen and sulfur, metal and non-metal oxides, production of aluminium, metal sulfides, structures of phosphates and silicates, transition metal compounds, use of coordination compounds, crystal field theory.
Textbook: Rodgers, G. E., "Descriptive Inorganic, Coordination and Solid-State Chemistry", 2nd edn, Thomson-Brooks/Cole, 2002.
Class requirements: Three 1-hour lectures per week, one 4-hour practical (compulsory) per week and tutorials as required.
Assessment: Written exam papers as required. Three 1.5-hour examinations (80%) and continuous assessment of practical laboratory (compulsory) performance (20%).