Module CHEM2041: PROPERTIES OF MOLECULES

Department: Chemistry

CHEM2041: PROPERTIES OF MOLECULES

Prerequisites

• Core Chemistry 1A (CHEM1012) AND EITHER Core Chemistry 1B (CHEM1022) OR Core Mathematics A (MATH1012) OR Single Mathematics A (MATH1561) OR Maths for Engineers & Scientists (MATH1551).

Corequisites

• Core Chemistry 2 (CHEM2012).

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To advance students' understanding of magnetic resonance, and to introduce students to surface chemistry and polymeric materials.

Content

• Surface chemistry: solid surfaces, surface relaxation and reconstruction, steps and defects.
• Adsorption of gases on solids.
• Mechanisms and kinetics of heterogeneous catalysis.
• An introduction to polymers.
• Classification of polymers, molar mass and degree of polymerisation.
• Step growth and chain growth mechanisms.
• Fundamentals of NMR, origins and chemical significance of chemical shifts, NMR of different nuclei.

Learning Outcomes

• Explain adsorption of gases to solid surfaces and apply adsorption isotherms to chemical problems; explain and interpret reaction rates of gases in the presence of solid catalysts.
• Carry out thermodynamic calculations involving fluid surfaces.
• Explain how the fundamental NMR phenomena (such as chemical shifts, couplings, chemical exchange) interact to create NMR spectra.
• Describe how Fourier Transform NMR works and how the spectra obtained depend on features such as relaxation times.
• Explain different mechanisms for the synthesis of polymers, including aspects of kinetics.
• Use simple models to calculate dimensions of polymer chains and calculate molecular weight averages.
• Describe key relationships between the molecular structure and bulk properties of polymers.

• Perform complex experiments in physical chemistry.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures are used to convey concepts and are examined by written papers. This is the best method to assess the knowledge of the students.
• Workshops are larger groups of students where problems are considered and common difficulties shared. This ensures that students have understood the work and can apply it to real life situations. These are formatively assessed.
• Laboratory classes teach students techniques in various aspects of physical chemistry. They are continuously assessed so that the student can learn from one session to the next.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Set work in preparation for workshops.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University