DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

Writing for Scientists (Winter 2025; Veronica Berns)

This course is about effectively communicating scientific ideas.
This course will introduce students to writing a proposal for scientific research while also exploring how scientific ideas are expressed in other formats. Students will work with course instructors and research mentors to identify a research problem, translate the problem into a guiding question, describe how the proposed experiments will answer the question, and support their work with related literature.

Quantum mechanics, electronic structure, periodic properties of elements, chemical bonding, thermodynamics, intermolecular forces, properties of solids and liquids, solutions and colligative properties. Must be taken concurrently with the Chem 141-0 laboratory course. 

Prerequisite: Chem 110-0 (C- or better). Students may not start the sequence in this course. All General Chemistry course sequences start in Fall Quarter.

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 CHEM 131-0.

Prerequisite: CHEM 110-0 (C- or better). Students may not start the sequence in this course. All General Chemistry course sequences start in Fall Quarter.

Chemical equilibrium, aqueous solution equilibria, chemical kinetics, metals in chemistry and biology, oxidation-reduction reactions and electrochemistry. Must be taken concurrently with the CHEM 162-0 laboratory course. 

Prerequisites: CHEM 151-0 and CHEM 161-0 (C- or better in both courses). Students may not start the sequence in this course. All General Chemistry course sequences start in Fall Quarter.

Chemistry laboratory techniques applied to materials science and nanotechnology, acid-base chemistry, and chemical kinetics. Planning, data collection, interpretation, and reporting on experiments.  Must be taken concurrently with the CHEM 152-0 lecture course.

Prerequisites: CHEM 151-0 and CHEM 161-0 (C- or better in both courses). Students may not start the sequence in this course. All General Chemistry course sequences start in Fall Quarter.

Study of the physical chemistry (acid-base chemistry, kinetics, etc.) behind the operating principles of biosensors. Planning, data collection, interpretation, and reporting on these experiments. Must be taken concurrently with the CHEM 172-0 lecture course.

Prerequisites: CHEM 171-0 and CHEM 181-0 (C- or better in both courses). Students may not start the sequence in this course. All General Chemistry course sequences start in Fall Quarter.

Fundamental concepts in organic chemistry will be covered. The topics will include important functional groups and will include: nomenclature, structure, properties, and multistep synthesis. Reaction mechanisms for organic transformations will be presented, and synthesis strategies will be covered.

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

Primarily for chemistry majors and students in ISP. The chemistry of aromatic, carbonyl, and nitrogen compounds; characterization of organic substances by chemical and spectral methods; reaction mechanisms. Must be taken concurrently with the CHEM 237-2 laboratory course. 

Prerequisites: CHEM 217-1 and CHEM 237-1 (C- or better in both courses). Students may not receive credit for both CHEM 217-2 and 212-2.

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.

For ISP students and (prospective or declared) chemistry majors. Techniques of modern organic chemistry including NMR spectroscopy and reactions such as catalytic hydrogenation, electrophilic aromatic substitution, aldol condensation, Robinson annulation, and Diels–Alder reaction.

CHEM 237-2 is the laboratory course associated with CHEM 217-2. Students enrolled in CHEM 217-2 must also enroll in CHEM 237-2.

Prerequisite: CHEM 217-1 and CHEM 237-1 (C- or better in both courses)

The design of synthetic routes to natural products and other medicinally relevant organic compounds will be covered in detail. Retrosynthetic analysis, substructure keying, and pattern recognition, along with other methods for synthetic planning will be discussed within the context of specific case studies. Classic and modern organic reactions, including asymmetric synthesis and catalysis, will be introduced and their application in synthetic planning examined. Case studies will include the synthesis of terpenes, alkaloids, polyketides, steroids, proteins and pharmaceuticals. The end result should be that students are familiar with the important issues associated with synthesis and gain intimate knowledge of a wide variety of chemical reactions. Ultimately, when presented with a given molecule, students should be able to develop a reasonable synthesis plan based on firm ideas and reliable transformations. Prerequisites: CHEM 215-3 or CHEM 212-3 or CHEM 217-3 (C- or better).

Taught with CHEM 419. Undergraduates should enroll in CHEM 319, unless they are completing the BA/MS program.

In this course you will study advanced techniques of synthetic inorganic chemistry including synthesis of zeolites, MOFs, and bioinorganic compounds and use of a Schlenk line. In addition, you will learn instrumental analysis techniques relevant to analysis of samples in materials chemistry. These techniques will include X-ray crystallography, solid state NMR spectroscopy, electrochemistry, atomic spectroscopy, and a variety of polymer characterization techniques (MALDI-TOF MS, NMR spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, DSC). Some of these analytical techniques may be used to analyze the inorganic samples you prepare in the course.

Prerequisites: CHEM 333 and CHEM 350-1 (C- or better), or equivalent.

Introduction to principles and practice of organic and inorganic synthetic compound characterization by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS). Topics include NMR instrument operation, spectra interpretation, 2-dimensional NMR spectroscopy, MS ionization and detection schemes, gas chromatography MS, liquid chromatography MS and ionization. The lab component of this class focuses on operations of instrumentation, software tools available in the Integrated Molecular Structure Education and Research Center (IMSERC) and tailoring analytical schemes based on individual research projects.

The class focuses on the Crystallographic structure determination by using X-rays, electrons, and neutrons. The course will include lectures on crystallographic theory applied on single-crystals and powders as well as hands-on experience with X-ray instrumentation, structure solution using X-rays, and refinement software. Students will be asked to provide single-crystal samples from their own research or from their research groups for in-class analysis.

This course covers time dependent quantum mechanics. Included are applications to molecular optical properties, to the interaction of radiation and matter, to scattering theory and to time-dependent spectroscopy.

Magnetic Resonance: In this course, we will cover the fundamentals of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy, the Density Matrix Formalism, the Product Operator Formalism, Relaxation theory, NMR methods to derive molecular dynamics information, basics of biomolecular solution NMR spectroscopy, including assignments and structure determination, fundamentals of solid-state magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR, basics of MAS NMR pulse sequences for assignment and distance determination and application of MAS NMR. This course will also cover the theory and application of dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP). To make this course interesting and accessible to both novice and experts in NMR spectroscopy, we will select for each topic classic and/or representative papers that will accompany each class, so that each student can choose the depth of their study that may go beyond the class material. The class will also include interactive and practical exercises, including the use of Topspin, NMR Data Analysis Software for assignments, Collaborative Computational Project (CCPN) and the solid-state NMR simulation software SIMPSON. The homework will be to read the assigned papers. Each student will be assigned the discussant for a few select topics to post Q&A. The final exam will be a written report on a topic of choice in NMR spectroscopy. This is a graduate level course and will be designed to benefit the student’s research directly or indirectly.