Inorganic Chemistry
Chemical periodicity
Structure and bonding in homo- and heteronuclear molecules including shapes of molecules (VSEPR Theory)
Concepts of acids and bases, Hard-Soft acid base concept, Non-aqueous solvents
Main group elements and their compounds: Allotropy, synthesis, structure and bonding, industrial importance of the compounds
Transition elements and coordination compounds: structure, bonding theories, spectral and magnetic properties, reaction mechanisms
Inner transition elements: spectral and magnetic properties, redox chemistry, analytical applications
Organometallic compounds: synthesis, bonding and structure, and reactivity. Organometallics in homogeneous catalysis
Cages and metal clusters.
Analytical chemistry- separation, spectroscopic, electro- and thermoanalytical methods
Bioinorganic chemistry: photosystems, porphyrins, metalloenzymes, oxygen transport, electron- transfer reactions; nitrogen fixation, metal complexes in medicine
Characterisation of inorganic compounds by IR, Raman, NMR, EPR, Mössbauer, UV-vis, NQR, MS, electron spectroscopy and microscopic techniques
Nuclear chemistry: nuclear reactions, fission and fusion, radio-analytical techniques and activation analysis
Physical Chemistry
Basic principles of quantum mechanics:
Postulates
operator algebra
exactly solvable systems: particle-in-a-box, harmonic oscillator and the hydrogen atom, including shapes of atomic orbitals
orbital and spin angular momenta
tunneling
Approximate methods of quantum mechanics:
Variational principle
perturbation
theory up to second order in energy
applications.
Atomic structure and spectroscopy
term symbols
many-electron systems and antisymmetry principle
Chemical bonding in diatomics
elementary concepts of MO and VB theories
Huckel theory for conjugated π-electron systems
Chemical applications of group theory
symmetry elements
point groups
character tables
selection rules
Molecular spectroscopy:
Rotational and vibrational spectra of diatomic molecules
electronic spectra; IR and Raman activities - selection rules
basic principles of magnetic resonance
Chemical thermodynamics:
Laws, state and path functions and their applications
thermodynamic description of various types of processes
Maxwell's relations
spontaneity and equilibria
temperature and pressure dependence of thermodynamic quantities
Le Chatelier principle
elementary description of phase transitions; phase equilibria and phase rule
thermodynamics of ideal and non-ideal gases, and solutions
Statistical thermodynamics: Boltzmann distribution
kinetic theory of gases
partition functions and their relation to thermodynamic quantities - calculations for model systems
Electrochemistry:
Nernst equation, redox systems, electrochemical cells
DebyeHuckel theory
electrolytic conductance - Kohlrausch's law and its applications
ionic equilibria
conductometric and potentiometric titrations
Chemical kinetics:
Empirical rate laws and temperature dependence
complex reactions
steady state approximation
determination of reaction mechanisms
collision and transition state theories of rate constants
unimolecular reactions
enzyme kinetics
salt effects
homogeneous catalysis
photochemical reactions
Colloids and surfaces:
isotherms and surface area
heterogeneous catalysis
Stability and properties of colloids
Solid state:
Crystal structures
Bragg's law and applications
band structure of solids
Polymer chemistry:
Molar masses
kinetics of polymerization
Data analysis:
Mean and standard deviation
absolute and relative errors
linear regression
covariance and correlation coefficient.
Organic Chemistry
IUPAC nomenclature of organic molecules including regio- and stereoisomers
Principles of stereochemistry:
Configurational and conformational isomerism in acyclic and cyclic compounds
stereogenicity, stereoselectivity, enantioselectivity, diastereoselectivity and asymmetric induction.
Aromaticity: Benzenoid and non-benzenoid compounds - generation and reactions
Organic reactive intermediates: Generation, stability and reactivity of carbocations, carbanions, free radicals, carbenes, benzynes and nitrenes.
Organic reaction mechanisms involving addition, elimination and substitution reactions with electrophilic, nucleophilic or radical species. Determination of reaction pathways.
Common named reactions and rearrangements - applications in organic synthesis.
Organic transformations and reagents:
Functional group interconversion including oxidations and reductions
common catalysts and reagents (organic, inorganic, organometallic and enzymatic)
Chemo, regio and stereoselective transformations.
Concepts in organic synthesis: Retrosynthesis, disconnection, synthons, linear and convergent synthesis, umpolung of reactivity and protecting groups.
Asymmetric synthesis: Chiral auxiliaries, methods of asymmetric induction - substrate, reagent and catalyst controlled reactions
determination of enantiomeric and diastereomeric excess
enantio-discrimination. Resolution - optical and kinetic.
Pericyclic reactions - electrocyclisation, cycloaddition, sigmatropic rearrangements and other related concerted reactions
Principles and applications of photochemical reactions in organic chemistry.
Synthesis and reactivity of common heterocyclic compounds containing one or two heteroatoms (O, N, S).
Chemistry of natural products: Carbohydrates, proteins and peptides, fatty acids, nucleic acids, terpenes, steroids and alkaloids. Biogenesis of terpenoids and alkaloids.
Structure determination of organic compounds by IR, UV-Vis, 1H & 13C NMR and Mass spectroscopic techniques.
