DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

**College Seminar Courses are Not Open to General Enrollment**

Science and the Scientist: The essence and impact of Chemistry research (Fall 2024; Veronica Berns)

In this seminar, we will delve into the world of chemistry research, exploring not only the processes that unfold within the laboratory but also the key decision-makers driving innovation. Through engaging readings, discussions, and presentations, you will have the opportunity to meet some of the chemists at Northwestern who illuminate their methodologies in tackling significant questions about our world. This course also emphasizes the importance of effective scientific communication. Whether articulating the nuanced technicalities of an experiment to peers or elucidating the broader implications of a study to the public, adept communication is indispensable for scientists. You will sharpen your communication skills, tailoring scientific narratives to suit diverse audiences and to achieve various objectives.

What's So Special About Nanomaterials? (Fall 2024; Katherine Gesmundo)

Over the past 20 years, nanotechnology has been a booming area of research in chemistry, biology, physics, engineering, and medicine. Modern techniques have allowed scientists to better study small materials, and the nanotech we read about in science fiction novels can now become real products found in our world. In this seminar, we will discuss what is so special about the size range of 1-100 nm (the nanoscale) and why particles of this size have a such a unique niche in nature and technology. We will explore the properties of these materials and why quantum mechanical effects allow for this scale to be so important. Discussions of medicines, electronics, catalysts, additives, and imaging agents that include nanoparticles will allow us to explore the wide range of current directions of nanotechnology. As we look to future applications, we will debate the implications of these materials on the environment, human health, and safety. Regulatory bodies in the United States and around the globe have discussed the ethical and social impact of nanomaterials, and we will investigate their role is assuring the nanomaterials we use leave a positive impact on the world.

Chemistry on The Green (Fall 2024; Shelby Hatch)

In earlier times, “The Green” referred to a literal green space in the center of a town or village where residents would gather for public events. These events might be social or political in nature. In current parlance, we often use the word “green” to refer to something environmentally benign, and this includes the practice of “green chemistry.” In this course, we will blend these dualities of “green” by communicating chemistry on the metaphorical green through essays, podcasts, 1-minute documentaries, and presentations. The course will culminate with a “Chemistry on the Green” event on campus.

Solution strategies for traditional word problems and their application to basic chemistry quantitative problems: dimensional analysis, chemical equations, stoichiometry, limiting reagents. 

Students with an AP Chem score of 5 or an IB (HL) Chem score of 7 are not eligible to take this course.

Prerequisite: permission of department via Initial Chemistry Assessment. 

Please contact chemhelp@northwestern.edu regarding permission and/or access to the Initial Chemistry Assessment. 

Quantum mechanics, electronic structure, periodic properties of elements, chemical bonding, thermodynamics, gas laws, intermolecular forces, properties of solids and liquids, solutions and colligative properties. Must be taken concurrently with the CHEM 161-0 laboratory course. 

Prerequisite: permission of department via Initial Chemistry Assessment. 

Please contact chemhelp@northwestern.edu regarding permission and/or access to the Initial Chemistry Assessment

Quantum mechanics, electronic structure, periodic properties of elements, chemical bonding, thermodynamics, gas laws, intermolecular forces, properties of solids and liquids, solutions and colligative properties. Must be taken concurrently with the CHEM 161-0 laboratory course. 

Prerequisite: permission of department via Initial Chemistry Assessment. 

Please contact chemhelp@northwestern.edu regarding permission and/or access to the Initial Chemistry Assessment

Chemical analysis of real samples using basic laboratory techniques including titration, colorimetric analysis, density measurements, and atomic spectroscopy. Planning, data collection, interpretation, and reporting on experiments. Must be taken concurrently with the CHEM 151-0 lecture course.

Review of mole problems and stoichiometry; descriptive chemistry, elements, compounds, and inorganic reactions; gas laws; phase equilibria and colligative properties; chemical equilibrium; aqueous equilibria; topics in chemical bonding and molecular structure. Must be taken concurrently with CHEM 181-0 laboratory course. 

Prerequisite: Permission of department by placement exam.

Foundational concepts in organic chemistry will be introduced. Topics include structure and properties of common functional groups, acidity/basicity, conformational analysis, stereochemistry, and reactivity of organic compounds.

Prerequisite: CHEM 172-0 and CHEM 182-0 *or* CHEM 152-0 and CHEM 162-0 *or* CHEM 132-0 and CHEM 142-0 (C– or better in all listed courses) *or* permission of department by placement exam. Must be taken concurrently with CHEM 235-1.

Foundational concepts in organic chemistry will be introduced. Topics include structure and properties of common functional groups, acidity/basicity, conformational analysis, stereochemistry, and reactivity of organic compounds.

Prerequisite: CHEM 172-0 and CHEM 182-0 *or* CHEM 152-0 and CHEM 162-0 *or* CHEM 132-0 and CHEM 142-0 (C– or better in all listed courses) *or* permission of department by placement exam. Must be taken concurrently with CHEM 235-1.

Primarily for chemistry majors and students in ISP. Basic concepts of structure, stereochemistry, and reactivity of organic compounds. The chemistry of hydrocarbons and alcohols. Must be taken concurrently with CHEM 237-1.

Prerequisites: CHEM 172-0 and CHEM 182-0 *or* CHEM 152-0 and CHEM 162-0 *or* CHEM 132-0 and CHEM 142-0 (C– or better in all listed courses) *or* permission of department by placement exam. Students may not receive credit for both CHEM 217-1 and 212-1.

Standard laboratory techniques in organic chemistry will be covered. Techniques will focus on the isolation and purification of organic compounds as well as the use of spectroscopic methods to determine identity and purity.

Prerequisite:  CHEM 172-0 and CHEM 182-0 *or* CHEM 152-0 and CHEM 162-0 *or* CHEM 132-0 and CHEM 142-0 (C– or better in all listed courses) *or* permission of department by placement exam. Must be taken concurrently with CHEM 215-1.

Complete laboratory experiments focusing on standard synthetic organic chemistry will be conducted each week. Students will complete a prelab worksheet including stoichiometric calculations, prediction of reaction outcome, and identification of safety protocols.

Prerequisite: CHEM 215-1 and CHEM 235-1 (C- or better). Must be taken concurrently with CHEM 215-2.

This course covers basic concepts in Inorganic Chemistry. It is designed to introduce students in key subjects which are used over and over again in chemistry and uses inorganic chemistry systems to illustrate the concepts. The course covers the donor-acceptor concept, hard-soft acids-bases, advanced concepts of basicity and acidity and acid-base view of salvation phenomena. The course also delves into introductory solid state chemistry including unit cells and the structure of simple solids, structure types and electronic structure and Band Theory (with the aim of understanding properties). 

A certain fraction of the time is also devoted to descriptive chemistry which utilizes the concepts learned in the first part of the course and the focus is generally on main group chemistry. This includes the chemistry of hydrogen and the chemistry of the elements of Group 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16.

Taught with Chem 402. Prerequisite: CHEM 333. Registration in this class is restricted to chemistry majors and minors.  Other students may register with instructor permission.

A contemporary course covering the diverse field of inorganic chemistry including all the elements of the periodic table. Topics include current concepts and models of chemical bonding, reactivity, structure, and properties of inorganic compounds.

Prerequisites: 2 units of 200- or 300-level chemistry.

Chemistry 350-1,2,3 is a full-year, 3-quarter laboratory course intended to be taken by all students in the junior year of the chemistry major program.

Roughly half of the CHEM 350-1 course deals with the advanced analytical techniques mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. The rest of this course deals with advanced techniques of synthetic organic chemistry, but you will be expected to use mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy, as well as the techniques of IR and UV/visible spectroscopy that you have learned previously, to characterize the compounds that you synthesize.

Prerequisites: CHEM 220; and CHEM 215-3 or CHEM 212-3 or CHEM 217-3; and CHEM 235-3 (C- or better); or equivalent.

Elucidation of organic and organometallic reaction mechanisms: experiment, theory, and selected case studies.

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

-Identify reasonable reaction pathways for organic and organometallic transformations.
-Qualitatively interpret potential energy surfaces.
-Derive rate laws for multistep reactions, including catalytic reactions.
-Have familiarity with the tools of mechanistic analysis, including kinetic analysis, linear free energy relationships, isotopic labeling, Eyring analysis,
competition experiments, crossover experiments, radical clocks, and use of stereochemical information.
-Identify experiments that would allow the differentiation of possible reaction mechanisms.
-Search and read the primary literature.
-Orally summarize and critically analyze journal articles.
-Write about reaction mechanism with clarity and precision.

Prerequisite: full year of organic chemistry or by permission of the instructor. 

Chemical applications of group theory and the determination of inorganic and organic molecular and extended structures by modern physical techniques.

Prerequisites: full year of inorganic chemistry or by permission of the instructor.

The goal of Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training is for researchers to perform the most ethical research possible. RCR training is critical to prepare undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers for ethical challenges that may arise when conducting research. RCR is mandatory for all Department of Chemistry researchers. Undergraduate researchers are required to complete the on-line course only.