Chemistry (Ph.D., M.S)
View PDF of Chemistry Admissions Checklist
Prospective students should use this checklist to obtain specific admissions requirements on how to apply to Graduate School.
View PDF version of the Chemistry catalog description
| Degree Offered: | Ph.D., M.S. |
| Director: | David E. Graves |
| Phone: | (205) 975-5381 |
| Fax: | (205) 934-2543 |
| E-mail: | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
| Web site: | www.uab.edu/chemistry |
Faculty
Venkatram R. Atigadda, Research Assistant Professor (Chemistry); Medicinal Chemistry, drug design and synthesis, drugs for treating or preventing breast cancer and skin cancer, DNA alkylating agents and drugs for treating cystic fibrosis.
Scott Brande, Professor(Geology); Earth and geological sciences.
Christie G. Brouillette, Research Professor Emeritus (Chemistry); Biophysical Chemistry, protein structural cooperativity and energetics through the application of biophysical techniques to study protein stability and protein-ligand interactions, with particular emphasis on pharmaceutical development.
Wayne J. Brouillette. Professor Emeritus (Chemistry); Medicinal Chemistry, drug design and synthesis of small organic molecules as new drugs. Active projects include neuraminidase inhibitors as drugs for influenza; NAD+ biosynthesis inhibitors as broad spectrum antibacterial and anticancer agents; voltage-gated sodium channel ligands as analgesic, and anticancer agents; and retinoids as chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic agents. Combinatorial chemistry, structure-based drug design, and computer-assisted methods such as in silico screening (FlexX) and 3D-QSAR (CoMFA) are utilized.
David E. Graves, Professor and Chair (Chemistry); Biophysical Chemistry, nucleic acid structure and function, interactions of ligand-DNA interactions, development of novel topoisomerase I and II inhibitors for cancer chemotherapy. Use of deoxyribonucleotides as modulators of a number of TLR mediated biological responses, including cancer cell invasion. We continue to use a multifaceted approach of calorimetry and high-resolution NMR to characterize the structure and stability of nucleic acids and protein-nucleic acid complexes.
Gary M. Gray, Professor (Chemistry); Inorganic Chemistry, Transition metal complexes with P-donor ligands, chemistry of metallacrown ethers: transition metal complexes that combine the catalytic abilities of transition metal complexes of phosphorus-donor ligands with the cation and small molecule binding abilities of crown ethers, organometallic compounds that exhibit third-order optical nonlinearities for use in sensor protection.
Tracy P. Hamilton, Associate Professor (Chemistry); Physical Chemistry, Ab Initio theoretical chemistry development with applications to nitric oxide (NO) chemistry and study of retinoid compounds. Predictions of energetics; kinetic barriers; vibrational , UV- visible, and NMR spectra.
Eugenia Kharlampieva, Assistant Professor (Chemistry); Polymer Chemistry,Synthesis and Assembly of Bio-Mimetic Polymers, Multifunctional Biohybrid Nanocomposites, Vibrational Spectroscopy, Neutron Scattering. Research centers at the intersection of polymer chemistry, nanotechnology, and biomedical science, focusing on novel approaches in rational design, synthesis, and characterization of multifunctional polymeric materials as novel "smart" platforms of therapeutic value for controlled delivery and regenerative medicine. Application of bio-inspired strategies involving synthesis and modification of water soluble macromolecules and macromolecular assembly from aqueous solutions at physiological conditions. Investigation of how the material chemistry translates into properties or structural/morphological changes of materials under various environmental conditions. Integration of polymer chemistry with biology and materials science to cover various aspects of soft materials design and development using interdisciplinary approach.
Larry Krannich, Professor Emeritus (Chemistry); Inorganic Chemistry,Outreach and in-service programs to science teachers in Alabama to enhance the quality of science education in the State, with a focus on novel laboratory-based activities for direct implementation into the school classroom or laboratory.
Aaron L. Lucius, Associate Professor (Chemistry); Biophysical Chemistry, Rapid Mixing Kinetics to examine the molecular mechanisms of enzyme catalyzed reactions. Thermodynamic and hydrodynamic methods to examine ligand binding and macromolecular assembly. Projects include examining the mechanisms of translocation by ATP driven polypeptide translocases, energetic of binding and assembly of proteins involved in Lou Gehrig’s disease, and mechanisms of cell surface assembly in multi-drug resistant S. aureus.
Joe L. March, Associate Professor (Chemistry); Chemical Education, teaching methods in general chemistry. I have actively pursued strategies in peer-led instruction, guided-inquiry laboratories, and incorporation of technology in the curriculum.
Craig P. McClure, Associate Professor (Chemistry); Chemical Education, development of novel chemistry instruction pedagogy, enhancement of retention in introductory chemistry for nonscience majors.
Donald D. Muccio, Professor (Chemistry); Biophysical Chemistry, Methods for structure and dynamics of proteins and protein-ligand complexes; NMR and CD spectroscopy; Design of conformationally constrained retinoids as selective agonists for nuclear retinoid receptors; Translation of retinoids to the clinic for cancer chemoprevention; Design of peptides that block chemotactic neutrophil invasion and inflammation.
Jacqueline A. Nikles, Associate Professor (Chemistry); Chemical Education, development of novel methods for enhancing organic chemistry instruction and student retention.
James C. Patterson, Assistant Professor (Chemistry); Biophysical & Inorganic Chemistry; Use of molecular dynamics simulations and quantum chemical calculations to study lipid-associated protein structure, reaction mechanisms and the effects of lipid stoichiometry, transition metals and small molecules. Particular emphasis is placed on proteins implicated in Parkinson's & Alzheimer's diseases.
Sadanandan E. Velu, Associate Professor (Chemistry); Synthesis of biologically active marine natural products and their analogs, Discovery and development of anticancer, antibacterial and antiparasitic agents, Design and discovery of inhibitors of enzyme targets such as topoisomerases, T. cruzi dihydrofolate reductase and S. aureus sortases. Structure based drug design, Fragment based drug design, Structure activity relationship studies and Lead optimization.
Sergey Vyazovkin, Professor (Chemistry); Analytical Chemistry. Thermophysical properties and reactions of polymeric, energetic, and pharmaceutical materials using a variety of analytical techniques including Infrared (IR) spectroscopy, Mass Spectrometry (MS), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermomechanical Analysis (TMA), Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM). Kinetic analysis of thermal data plays the key role in our work. We develop and apply our original kinetic methodology known as “Model-free Kinetics”.
Pengfei Wang, Associate Professor (Chemistry); Organic Chemistry, development of new photochemical methods for controlled release of molecules and glycosylation methods for carbohydrate synthesis, including synthesis of oligosaccharides, glycoconjugates and fully synthetic carbohydrate-based vaccines against infectious diseases.
Charles L. Watkins, Professor Emeritus (Chemistry); Physical Chemistry; Chemical Education. Development and application of NMR and molecular spectroscopic methods and computational chemistry techniques to the improvement of undergraduate and graduate chemistry instruction.
Program Information
General Requirements
The graduate curricula in the Department of Chemistry are designed to ensure superior competency in traditional areas of chemistry and several targeted areas (medicinal chemistry; biophysical, bioanalytical chemistry; macromolecular chemistry; organometalic chemistry). This department has an outstanding research-active faculty that provides a favorable faculty/student ratio. Graduate students are in close contact with their faculty research advisors, that provides students with a personalized academic and research program.
Students must select a research advisor within their first two semesters and have a graduate committee in place by the end of their third semester. Graduate students are required to complete a graduate curriculum of 24 graduate semester hours. All students are required to pass two Foundations Courses [CH 600/700, Foundations I (Analytical and Physical); CH 601/701, Foundations II (Organic and Inorganic)] and at least four additional chemistry core courses (18 semester hours) that are selected by the student’s research mentor and graduate committee. Substitutions are permitted with the approval of the student’s graduate committee and director of the graduate program.
Chemistry Core Courses (M.S.: 600 level courses; Ph.D. Students: 700 level courses):
CH 625/725, CH 629/729, CH 631/731, CH 632/732, CH 639/739, CH 640/740, CH 642/742, CH 649/749, CH 651/751, CH 659/759, CH 660/760, CH 661/761, CH 663/763, CH 664/764, CH 669/769, CH 671/771, CH 672/772, CH 673/773, CH 680/780, CH 689/789.
Additionally, students are encouraged to broaden their background by completing courses offered in the Basic Health Sciences and the Joint Material Sciences Programs. A grade of B must be earned in each of these courses for Admission to Candidacy in the Ph.D. program. Courses may be repeated once within a one-year time period to raise the grade.
All graduate students are to demonstrate competencies in communication skills. Adequate performance is required for seminars, written responses to essay exams, dissertation defense, teaching, written publications, and presentations at professional meetings. Graduate students are encouraged to enroll in the Graduate School course series GRD 701 – GRD 726. All incoming graduate students are required to take GRD 715 (Preparing TAs to be Effective Teachers. International graduate students are required to take GRD 720/721/730 (Speaking and Presentation). Additionally, incoming graduate students are recommended to take GRD 726-737 (Academic Writing). All graduate students are required to present a departmental literature seminar during their second year in the program.
M.S. Program
Plan I
Plan I is a research program that requires a minimum of 24 semester hours (including 18 semester hours of core courses) of formal academic coursework approved by the student's graduate study committee. The progress of the student's research program is monitored by the graduate study committee. The student, having been admitted to candidacy and having completed an approved plan of research, will complete and defend a thesis.
Plan II
Plan II is a nonthesis program that requires a minimum of 30 semester hours (including 18 semester hours of core courses) of appropriate graduate work that has been approved by the student's graduate study committee.
Ph.D. Program
For Ph.D. students, the student’s graduate committee will decide if additional courses are required beyond the 24 semester hours. A student must pass a written qualifying examination given at the end of year 2 (upon completion of the students academic coursework) in the student's area of specialization. If failure occurs, the written exam must be repeated successfully within a 6 months. A research proposal must be defended within 12 months of completion of the written qualifying examination. If failure occurs, one repeat defense is allowed within a 6-month period. Upon completion of these milestones, the student is admitted to candidacy. Students will submit a written dissertation to the Graduate School, and defend their dissertation at an open meeting to complete requirements for the Ph.D. degree.
Additional Information
NIBIB Supported T-32 Predoctoral Training Grant
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) has awarded an interdisciplinary predoctoral training grant to UAB that is entitled “Nanotechnology in Biosensors and Bioengineering”. It is a five year program that started on September 1, 2007. Benefits to participating graduate students include: graduate stipends of $25,000 per year, full tuition and health insurance, and a travel award of $1,000 per year. The purpose of this grant is to implement a training program at the interfaces of physics, chemistry, materials science and engineering, and biomedical engineering that will reduce the time from discovery of a new tool in nanotechnology to its application in medical devices, tissue engineering, and biosensors for earliest detection of molecular signatures of disease.
For more information regarding this training program, visit http://www.uab.edu/cnmb/graduate/index.html.
|
Deadline for Entry Term(s): |
Each semester |
|
Deadline for All Application Materials to be in the Graduate School Office: |
Six weeks before term begins |
|
Number of Evaluation Forms Required: |
Three |
|
Entrance Tests |
GRE (TOEFL and TWE also required for international applicants whose native language is not English.) |
|
Comments |
None |
|
Graduate Catalog Description |
http://www.uab.edu/chemistry/graduate |
For detailed information, contact Dr. David E. Graves , Department of Chemistry Graduate Program Director, CHEM 201C, Chemistry Building, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 901 14th Street South, Birmingham, AL 35294.
Telephone 205-975-5381
E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Course Descriptions
Unless otherwise noted, all courses are for 3 semester hours of credit. Course numbers preceded with an asterisk indicate courses that can be repeated for credit, with stated stipulations.
Chemistry (CH)
525. Physical Chemistry I for Graduate Study. Thermodynamics and chemical equilibria; and chemical kinetics. Prerequisites: Calculus II, College Physics II, and General Chemistry II. 3 hours.
526. Physical Chemistry II for Graduate Study. Quantum mechanics, chemical bonding, and molecular spectroscopy. Prerequisite: Calculus II, College Physics II, and General Chemistry II. 3 hours.
535. Organic Chemistry I for Graduate Study. Structure, nomenclature, properties, and reactivity of compounds with various organic functional groups: alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, alkyl halidesand alcohols. Emphasis on the mechanisms of organic reactions and problem solving.. Prerequisite: General Chemistry II. 3 hours
537. Organic Chemistry II for Graduate Study. Reactions of aromatic compounds and carbonyl containing functional groups: aldehydes, ketones, acids, esters and amides. Molecules of biological interest, such as proteins and carbohydrates. Prerequisite: CH 535 or Organic Chemistry I. 3 hours
540. Inorganic Chemistry I for Graduate Study. Systematic coverage of descriptive chemistry. Chemical reactivity using structural and electronic parameters. Development of chemical understanding and intuition of elements and their compounds, as well as industrial and environmental applications. Lecture and laboratory. Prerequisites: Organic Chemistry II and laboratory with a grade of C or better and concurrent enrollment in CH 540L. 4 hours.
540L. Inorganic Chemistry I for Graduate Study Laboratory. Laboratory to accompany CH 540 (Inorganic Chemistry I for Graduate Study). Prerequisites: Concurrent enrollment in CH 540.
541. Transition Metal Chemistry. Relationship between bonding, structure, and properties of compounds including reactions, mechanisms, and catalysis of organometallic and bioinorganic chemistry. Prerequisite: Inorganic Chemistry and Physical Chemistry II. 3 hours.
550. Instrumental Analysis for Graduate Study. Focus on modern analytical chemistry instrumentation including chemical separations, spectroscopies (atomic absorption, infrared, UV-visible, fluorescence), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. Laboratory correlated with lecture material. Prerequisite: Quantitative Analysis Techniques. 4 hours.
550L. Instrumental Analysis for Graduate Study Laboratory. Laboratory to accompany CH 550 (Instrumental Analysis for Graduate Study). Prerequisites: Concurrent enrollment in CH 550.
555. Quantitative Analysis Techniques for Graduate Study. Principles of analytical measurements, gravimetric analysis, spectrophotometric analysis, and chromatography, with emphasis on equilibrium and applications. Lecture and laboratory. 4 hours.
555L. Quantitative Analysis Techniques for Graduate Study Laboratory. Laboratory to accompany CH 555 (Quantitative Analysis for Graduate Study). Prerequisites: Concurrent enrollment in CH 555.
560. Fundamentals of Biochemistry. Overview of biochemical principles; chemistry of aqueous solutions, biochemical building blocks including amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleotides; structure and function of proteins, membranes, and nucleic acids; enzyme kinetics. Catabolic and anabolic metabolism of biomolecules, regulation of metabolic processes. Application of clinical correlations of metabolism to human nutrition and disease. Prerequisite: Organic Chemistry II with a grade of C or better. 3 hours.
561. Advanced Biochemistry I : Advanced study of protein structure and function, enzymology, DNA structure, prokaryotic replication, transcription, and protein synthesis. Membrane structure and function, carbohydrate structure and function. Methods for isolating and characterizing macromolecule structure and function including chromatography, gel electrophoresis, CD, UV, and fluorescence spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Prerequisites: Successful completion of CHEM 560 with C or better,
562. Advanced Biochemistry II. Continuation of Advanced Biochemistry I focusing on eukaryotic replication, transcription, translation, regulation of gene expression, genomics, proteomics, biological signaling. Prerequisites: Successful completion of CHEM 561.
563. Biochemistry Laboratory. Introduction to modern bioanalytical techniques used for the expression, isolation and characterization of proteins and other biological macromolecules. Prerequisites: Quantitative Analysis and Biochemistry and permission of instructor.
564. Physical Biochemistry Laboratory. Physical/analytical approaches (including mass spectroscopy and NMR) toward determination of macromolecular structures, ligand binding, and enzymology. Prerequisites: Background in physical chemistry I and II, quantitative analysis, and biochemistry. Permission of instructor required.
565. Structural Biochemistry. Principles of macromolecular structure, emphasizing proteins, nucleic acidsacids, and macromolecular assemblies. Computational methods used to teach principles and modeling software used for construction of computer models of proteins and nucleic acids. Lecture and computer Laboratory. Prerequisites: Background in physical chemistry I and II, quantitative analysis, and biochemistry. Permission of instructor required. 3 hours.
571. Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Discovery. An advanced organic course with emphasis on design strategies for discovering small organic molecule drugs using common macromolecular drug targets. Examples of successful design for clinically used drug classes will be presented. Prerequisites include undergraduate organic chemistry and undergraduate biochemistry. 3 hours.
572. Chemistry of Natural Products. A one-semester advanced organic chemistry course that provides an introduction to the broad field of the major classes of natural products chemistry and includes insights on isolation, structure, properties, synthesis, biological targets, and importance in medical applications. Prerequisites: include undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
573. Electron Pushing and Total Synthesis. The advanced organic course is aimed to enhance students’ comprehension of advanced organic chemistry theory and principles, and apply them to understand reaction mechanisms and tactic of total synthesis. It will cover different types of common organic reactions each week, for example, reactions involving anion intermediates, cation intermediates, rearrangement, photochemical process, carbonyl compounds, and other reactive intermediates. Using electron pushing for mechanistic reasoning will be emphasized. Prerequisites: include undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
574. X-Ray Crystallography. Fundamental principles of X-ray crystallography. Students gain enough information to be able to collect meaningful data and analyze and refine structures. Students learn how to collect, process and and analyze x-ray data, focus on heavy atom phasing techniques and use state of the art software for refinement. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
580. Polymer Chemistry I. Basic chemical principles of polymers with the focus on synthesis, characterization, and applications of synthetic and biological macromolecules. Includes laboratory. Prerequisites: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor and concurrent enrollment in CH 580L.
580L. Polymer Chemistry I Laboratory. Laboratory to accompany CH 680 (Polymer Chemistry I). Concurrent enrollment in CH 580.
581. Polymer Chemistry II. Fundamentals of chemical, physical, and molecular aspects of polymers in bulk and solutions. Prerequisites: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor and concurrent enrollment in CH 580L.
581L. Polymer Chemistry II Laboratory. Laboratory to accompany CH 681 (Polymer Chemistry II). Prerequisites: Concurrent enrollment in CH 581.
583. Polymer Chemistry I. Basic chemical principles of polymers with the focus on synthesis, characterization, and applications of synthetic and biological macromolecules. No laboratory is required. Prerequisites: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
584. Polymer Chemistry II. Fundamentals of chemical, physical, and molecular aspects of polymers in bulk and solutions. No laboratory is required. Prerequisites: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
600. Foundations of Physical and Analytical Chemistry. Molecular thermodynamics, molecular reaction dynamics, and chemical equilibria. Ligand binding to macromolecules in aqueous solution.
601. Foundations of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry. Organic – Bonding and structure, concerted pericyclic reactions, stereochemistry, effects of conformation, sterics and electronics on reactivity; and the study of reaction mechanisms with emphasis on nucleophilic substitution. Inorganic – Bonding and structure including basic molecular orbital theory, the solid state, Lewis acid-base chemistry, coordination chemistry, reaction mechanisms for transition metal complexes and characterization of transition metal complexes.
602. Principles of Chemical Instruction. Responsibilities of laboratory instructors, safety regulations, grading, teaching styles and formats, and instructional objectives. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. 1 hour.
610. Laboratory Experiences in Chemistry I. Course of development, preparation, execution and evaluation of chemical experiments appropriate for high school science programs. Held in collaboration with summer chemistry camps on campus.
611. Laboratory Experiences in Chemistry II. Continuation of CH 610.
612. Polymer Chemistry for Teachers. Lecture and laboratory experiences focusing on natural and synthetic polymers. Morning lectures by polymer chemists with afternoon labs where polymers are synthesized and studied. Emphasis is on practical application and new developments in polymer chemistry. Experiments are suitable for high school science programs.
613. Introductory Organic Chemistry for Teachers. A laboratory, lecture, demonstration course on the nature of carbon compounds including hydrocarbons, functional groups and their reactions. Emphasis given to laboratory experiments and demonstrations suitable for high school students.
614. Introductory Biochemistry for Teachers. Course covering structure, characteristics, biological function, and reactions of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. Models of implementation of these topics in the classroom are also presented and discussed
615. Introductory Biochemistry for Teachers II. Lecture series covering vitamins, minerals, enzymes, biochemical energy and metabolism. Strong connections between chemistry and biology. Practical applications are emphasized.
616. Chemical Demonstrations. A laboratory-based course exploring the teaching potential of selected chemical reactions. Teachers perform at least 50 demonstrations in the laboratory and share ways they can use these in their own classes. Emphasis on facilitating learning of chemistry.
617. Green Chemistry for High School Teachers. This course introduces green chemistry concepts and demonstrates laboratory experiments appropriate for the high school classroom. This is a blended course that requires participation in on-line instruction and on-campus laboratory experiences.
619. Special Topics in Chemical Education. Topics determined by interest of students and faculty.
625. Molecular Structure and Spectroscopy. Classical and quantum mechanical descriptions of molecular structure and bonding. Basic principles and techniques of molecular spectroscopic methods. Exercises and experiments with computational software and spectroscopic instrumentation will be conducted.
629. Special Topics in Physical Chemistry. Topics determined by mutual student-faculty interest. Typical are computational chemistry, molecular spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance. Prerequisite: CH 600/700 or permission of Instructor. 1 – 3 hours
630. Physical Organic Chemistry. Localized and delocalized chemical bonds, stereochemistry, acidity and basicity, determining organic mechanisms and structure.
631. Organic Reactions and Their Mechanisms. Detailed mechanisms for a variety of synthetically useful reactions including nucleophilic and electrophilic substitution, free radical substitutions, additions to carbon-carbon and carbon-hetero multiple bonds, and elimination reactions. Prerequisite: CH 601/701
632. Organic Reactions and Synthesis. Reactions and strategies for efficient organic synthesis, including carbon skeletal assembly, selective functional group interconversion, protecting groups, stereochemical control. Prerequisite: CH 601.
633. Reactive Intermediates and Conservation of Bonding. Behavior of organic molecules in static and reactive situations. Prerequisite: CH 731 or permission of instructor.
639. Special Topics in Organic Chemistry. Topics determined by interest of students and faculty. Prerequisite: CH 632. 1-3 hours.
642. Organometallic Chemistry and Catalysis. Study of transition metal organometallic compounds and their applications as homogeneous catalysts for organic and polymer syntheses. Prerequisite: CH 640 or 740 or permission of instructor.
649. Special Topics in Inorganic Chemistry. Topics determined by interest of students and faculty. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. 1-3 hours.
651. Chemometrics. Introduction to basic data analysis techniques that include testing hypotheses, establishing tendencies and correlations, experimental design, etc. The course is designed to provide a support to a research chemist in effectively solving everyday problems associated with production and interpretation of experimental data. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
659. Thermal processes and methods. Introduction to thermally initiated physical and chemical processes in the condensed phase systems such as liquids, crystalline solids, and glasses (amorphous solids). The course covers the use of calorimetry, thermogravimetry, and thermomechanical methods for exploring thermodynamics and kinetics of crystallization, glass transition, solid-solid and helix-coil transitions, decomposition, polymerization. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
660. Fundamentals of Biochemistry. Overview of biochemical principles; chemistry of aqueous solutions, biochemical building blocks including amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleotides; structure and function of proteins, membranes, and nucleic acids; enzyme kinetics. Catabolic and anabolic metabolism of biomolecules, regulation of metabolic processes. Application of clinical correlations of metabolism to human nutrition and disease. Prerequisite: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
661. Advanced Biochemistry I : An in-depth examination of the biochemical, biophysical, and enzymology of processes including molecular genetics (DNA replication, transcription, and protein synthesis), bioenergetics, and protein structure, folding, and energetics.Prerequisite: 660.
662. Advanced Biochemistry II. Continuation of biochemistry including molecular genetics (replication, transcription, and translation), metabolic pathways, control of gene expression. Prerequisite: 661.
663. Biochemistry Laboratory. Introduction to modern bioanalytical techniques used for the expression, isolation and characterization of proteins and other biological macromolecules. Prerequisites: CH 660 and permission of instructor.
664. Biophysical Chemistry. Physical/analytical approaches (including mass spectroscopy and NMR) toward determination of macromolecular structures, ligand binding, and enzymology. Prerequisites: CH 660 and permission of instructor.
669. Special Topics in Biochemistry. Detailed consideration of areas of special interest. Prerequisite: CH 660 and permission of instructor.
671. Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Discovery. An advanced organic course with emphasis on design strategies for discovering small organic molecule drugs using common macromolecular drug targets. Examples of successful design for clinically used drug classes will be presented. Prerequisites include undergraduate organic chemistry and undergraduate biochemistry.
672. Chemistry of Natural Products. A one-semester advanced organic chemistry course that provides an introduction to the broad field of the major classes of natural products chemistry and includes insights on isolation, structure, properties, synthesis, biological targets, and importance in medical applications. Prerequisites: include undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
673. Electron Pushing and Total synthesis. An advanced organic course aimed to enhance students’ comprehension of advanced organic chemistry theory and principles, and apply them to understand reaction mechanisms and tactic of total synthesis. It will cover different types of common organic reactions each week, for example, reactions involving anion intermediates, cation intermediates, rearrangement, photochemical process, carbonyl compounds, and other reactive intermediates. Using electron pushing for mechanistic reasoning will be emphasized. Prerequisites: include undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
674. XRay Crystallography. Fundamental principles of X-ray crystallography. Students gain enough information to be able to collect meaningful data and analyze and refine structures. Students learn how to collect, process and and analyze x-ray data, focus on heavy atom phasing techniques and use state of the art software for refinement. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
680. Polymer Chemistry I. Basic chemical principles of polymers with the focus on synthesis, characterization, and applications of synthetic and biological macromolecules. Includes laboratory. Prerequisites: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor and concurrent enrollment in CH 680L.
680L. Polymer Chemistry I Laboratory. Laboratory to accompany CH 680 (Polymer Chemistry I). Concurrent enrollment in CH 680.
681. Polymer Chemistry II. Fundamentals of chemical, physical, and molecular aspects of polymers in bulk and solutions. Prerequisites: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor and concurrent enrollment in CH 680L.
681L. Polymer Chemistry II Laboratory. Laboratory to accompany CH 681 (Polymer Chemistry II). Prerequisites: Concurrent enrollment in CH 681.
683. Polymer Chemistry I. Basic chemical principles of polymers with the focus on synthesis, characterization, and applications of synthetic and biological macromolecules. No laboratory is required. Prerequisites: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
684. Polymer Chemistry II. Fundamentals of chemical, physical, and molecular aspects of polymers in bulk and solutions. No laboratory is required. Prerequisites: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
689. Special Topics in Polymer Chemistry. Detailed consideration of areas of special interests in polymer chemistry. Prerequisite: CH 580, 581.
690. Introduction to Graduate Research. The purpose of this course is to acquaint incoming graduate students with departmental, school and university policies and procedures for conducting research and teaching undergraduate students. Pass/Fail. 1 hour.
691. Seminar. Seminars on current topics in chemical research. Pass/Fail. 1 hour.
692. Seminar Presentation. Oral departmental seminar given by graduate students on current topic in chemical research. 2 hours. Prerequisite: Approval of graduate research mentor and graduate committee.
698. Graduate Research. Prerequisite: Permission of graduate research mentor. Pass/Fail. 1-12 hours.
699. M.S. Thesis Research. Prerequisites: Admission to candidacy and permission of graduate research mentor. 1-12 hours.
700. Foundations of Physical and Analytical Chemistry. Molecular thermodynamics, molecular reaction dynamics, and chemical equilibria. Ligand binding to macromolecules in aqueous solution.
701. Foundations of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry. Organic – Bonding and structure, concerted pericyclic reactions, stereochemistry, effects of conformation, sterics and electronics on reactivity; and the study of reaction mechanisms with emphasis on nucleophilic substitution. Inorganic – Bonding and structure including basic molecular orbital theory, the solid state, Lewis acid-base chemistry, coordination chemistry, reaction mechanisms for transition metal complexes and characterization of transition metal complexes.
702. Principles of Chemical Instruction. Responsibilities of laboratory instructors, safety regulations, grading, teaching styles and formats, and instructional objectives. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. 1 hour.
710. Laboratory Experiences in Chemistry I. Course of development, preparation, execution and evaluation of chemical experiments appropriate for high school science programs. Held in collaboration with summer chemistry camps on campus.
711. Laboratory Experiences in Chemistry II. Continuation of CH 610.
712. Polymer Chemistry for Teachers. Lecture and laboratory experiences focusing on natural and synthetic polymers. Morning lectures by polymer chemists with afternoon labs where polymers are synthesized and studied. Emphasis is on practical application and new developments in polymer chemistry. Experiments are suitable for high school science programs.
713. Introductory Organic Chemistry for Teachers. A laboratory, lecture, demonstration course on the nature of carbon compounds including hydrocarbons, functional groups and their reactions. Emphasis given to laboratory experiments and demonstrations suitable for high school students.
714. Introductory Biochemistry for Teachers. Course covering structure, characteristics, biological function, and reactions of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. Models of implementation of these topics in the classroom are also presented and discussed
715. Introductory Biochemistry for Teachers II. Lecture series covering vitamins, minerals, enzymes, biochemical energy and metabolism. Strong connections between chemistry and biology. Practical applications are emphasized.
716. Chemical Demonstrations. A laboratory-based course exploring the teaching potential of selected chemical reactions. Teachers perform at least 50 demonstrations in the laboratory and share ways they can use these in their own classes. Emphasis on facilitating learning of chemistry.
717. Green Chemistry for High School Teachers. This course introduces green chemistry concepts and demonstrates laboratory experiments appropriate for the high school classroom. This is a blended course that requires participation in on-line instruction and on-campus laboratory experiences.
719. Special Topics in Chemical Education. Topics determined by interest of students and faculty.
725. Molecular Structure and Spectroscopy. Classical and quantum mechanical descriptions of molecular structure and bonding. Basic principles and techniques of molecular spectroscopic methods. Exercises and experiments with computational software and spectroscopic instrumentation will be conducted.
729. Special Topics in Physical Chemistry. Topics determined by mutual student-faculty interest. Typical are computational chemistry, molecular spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance. Prerequisite: CH 600/700 or permission of Instructor. 1 – 3 hours.
730. Physical Organic Chemistry. Localized and delocalized chemical bonds, stereochemistry, acidity and basicity, determining organic mechanisms and structure.
731. Organic Reactions and Their Mechanisms. Detailed mechanisms for a variety of synthetically useful reactions including nucleophilic and electrophilic substitution, free radical substitutions, additions to carbon-carbon and carbon-hetero multiple bonds, and elimination reactions. Prerequisite: CH 701.
732. Organic Reactions and Synthesis. Reactions and strategies for efficient organic synthesis, including carbon skeletal assembly, selective functional group interconversion, protecting groups, stereochemical control. Prerequisite: CH701.
733. Reactive Intermediates and Conservation of Bonding. Behavior of organic molecules in static and reactive situations. Prerequisite: CH 731 or permission of instructor.
739. Special Topics in Organic Chemistry. Topics determined by interest of students and faculty. Prerequisite: CH 732. 1-3 hours.
742. Organometallic Chemistry and Catalysis. Study of transition metal organometallic compounds and their applications as homogeneous catalysts for organic and polymer syntheses. Prerequisite: CH 640 or 740 or permission of instructor.
749. Special Topics in Inorganic Chemistry. Topics determined by interest of students and faculty. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. 1-3 hours.
751. Chemometrics. Introduction to basic data analysis techniques that include testing hypotheses, establishing tendencies and correlations, experimental design, etc. The course is designed to provide a support to a research chemist in effectively solving everyday problems associated with production and interpretation of experimental data. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
759. Thermal processes and methods. Introduction to thermally initiated physical and chemical processes in the condensed phase systems such as liquids, crystalline solids, and glasses (amorphous solids). The course covers the use of calorimetry, thermogravimetry, and thermomechanical methods for exploring thermodynamics and kinetics of crystallization, glass transition, solid-solid and helix-coil transitions, decomposition, polymerization. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
760. Fundamentals of Biochemistry. Overview of biochemical principles; chemistry of aqueous solutions, biochemical building blocks including amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleotides; structure and function of proteins, membranes, and nucleic acids; enzyme kinetics. Catabolic and anabolic metabolism of biomolecules, regulation of metabolic processes. Application of clinical correlations of metabolism to human nutrition and disease. Prerequisite: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
761. Advanced Biochemistry I : An in-depth examination of the biochemical, biophysical, and enzymology of processes including molecular genetics (DNA replication, transcription, and protein synthesis), bioenergetics, and protein structure, folding, and energetics. Prerequisite: 660.
762. Advanced Biochemistry II. Continuation of biochemistry including molecular genetics (replication, transcription, and translation), metabolic pathways, control of gene expression. Prerequisite: 661.
763. Biochemistry Laboratory. Introduction to modern bioanalytical techniques used for the expression, isolation and characterization of proteins and other biological macromolecules. Prerequisites: CH 660 and permission of instructor.
764. Biophysical Chemistry. Physical/analytical approaches (including mass spectroscopy and NMR) toward determination of macromolecular structures, ligand binding, and enzymology. Prerequisites: CH 660 and permission of instructor.
769. Special Topics in Biochemistry. Detailed consideration of areas of special interest. Prerequisites: CH 760 and permission of instructor. 1-3 hours.
771. Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Discovery. An advanced organic course with emphasis on design strategies for discovering small organic molecule drugs using common macromolecular drug targets. Examples of successful design for clinically used drug classes will be presented. Prerequisites include undergraduate organic chemistry and undergraduate biochemistry.
772. Chemistry of Natural Products. A one-semester advanced organic chemistry course that provides an introduction to the broad field of the major classes of natural products chemistry and includes insights on isolation, structure, properties, synthesis, biological targets, and importance in medical applications. Prerequisites: include undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
773. Electron Pushing and Total synthesis. An advanced organic course aimed to enhance students’ comprehension of advanced organic chemistry theory and principles, and apply them to understand reaction mechanisms and tactic of total synthesis. It will cover different types of common organic reactions each week, for example, reactions involving anion intermediates, cation intermediates, rearrangement, photochemical process, carbonyl compounds, and other reactive intermediates. Using electron pushing for mechanistic reasoning will be emphasized. Prerequisites: include undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
774. XRay Crystallography. Fundamental principles of X-ray crystallography. Students gain enough information to be able to collect meaningful data and analyze and refine structures. Students learn how to collect, process and and analyze x-ray data, focus on heavy atom phasing techniques and use state of the art software for refinement. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
780. Polymer Chemistry I. Basic chemical principles of polymers with the focus on synthesis, characterization, and applications of synthetic and biological macromolecules. Includes laboratory. Prerequisites: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor and concurrent enrollment in CH 580L.
780L. Polymer Chemistry I Laboratory. Laboratory to accompany CH 680 (Polymer Chemistry I). Concurrent enrollment in CH 680.
781. Polymer Chemistry II. Fundamentals of chemical, physical, and molecular aspects of polymers in bulk and solutions. Prerequisites: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor and concurrent enrollment in CH 680L.
781L. Polymer Chemistry II Laboratory. Laboratory to accompany CH 681 (Polymer Chemistry II). Prerequisites: Concurrent enrollment in CH 681.
783. Polymer Chemistry I. Basic chemical principles of polymers with the focus on synthesis, characterization, and applications of synthetic and biological macromolecules. No laboratory is required. Prerequisites: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
784. Polymer Chemistry II. Fundamentals of chemical, physical, and molecular aspects of polymers in bulk and solutions. No laboratory is required. Prerequisites: undergraduate organic chemistry and permission of instructor.
789. Special Topics in Polymer Chemistry. Detailed consideration of areas of special interests in polymer chemistry. Prerequisite: CH 580, 581.
790. Introduction to Graduate Research. The purpose of this course is to acquaint incoming graduate students with departmental, school and university policies and procedures for conducting research and teaching undergraduate students. Pass/Fail. 1 hour.
791. Seminar. Seminars on current topics in chemical research. Pass/Fail. 1 hour.
792. Seminar Presentation. Oral departmental seminar given by graduate students on current topics in chemical research. 2 hours. Prerequisite: Approval of graduate research mentor and graduate committee.
798. Nondissertation Research. Prerequisite: Permission of graduate research mentor. Pass/Fail. 1-12 hours.
799. Dissertation Research. Prerequisite: Admission to candidacy and permission of graduate research mentor. 1-12 hours.
