BSc Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry

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The unit aims to:

• describe the theory and techniques that have made the diffraction of X-rays by crystalline materials, one of the most powerful tools available to chemists;
• introduce some of the vast array of structures of inorganic extended crystalline solids and to illustrate how the structure of the solid is related to the bonding and chemical composition within the solid, and its properties are related to the structure, bonding and chemical composition.
• provide a detailed understanding of surface chemistry and to develop an appreciation of the importance of surface chemistry in a range of applications.

On successful completion of the course students should be able to:

• Describe the range of chemical information available from diffraction-based techniques.
• Explain the basis of powder diffraction and index a powder diffraction pattern to extract lattice parameters.
• Derive the Bragg equation and show how its components relate to X-ray diffraction from a crystal.
• Determine the Miller indices for a given set of crystallographic planes and the d-spacing of those planes based on the unit cell parameters.
• Describe the concept of the asymmetric unit and explain how it relates to the structure of a crystal.
• Describe atomic scattering factors and how the intensity of a reflection and its phase relates to atomic positions within a unit cell.
• Apply the principles of crystal structure refinement to solve simple diffraction problems.
• Describe crystal structures of solids using crystallographic terms and concepts such as close packing of spheres and space-filling polyhedral.
• Rationalise the structural and thermodynamic properties of inorganic extended crystalline solids based on bonding, atom/ion sizes and non-bonding electrons.
• Rationalise the electronic conductivity of inorganic extended-crystalline-solids based on the magnitude and thermal behaviour of conductivity, the band structure and the chemical composition of the compound.
• Explain the ionic conductivity of an inorganic extended-crystalline-solid based on the structure of the compound, its chemical composition, and the type and number of the point defects in the solid.
• Describe the physical and electronic structure of the solid surfaces of elements and simple compounds and use this to explain chemical bonding of atoms and molecules to surfaces;
• Evaluate the rates and mechanisms of key surface processes in terms of component thermodynamic and kinetic aspects;
• Describe the physical structure of liquid surfaces and the origins of surface tension, surface excess, surface pressure and surface activity;
• Use the Gibbs-Duhem equation and the Gibbs adsorption isotherm to rationalise the behavior of surfactants and to explain the formation and stability of micelles;
• Outline key heterogeneous catalytic schemes and deconstruct them into component surface- and gas-phase chemical processes;
• Select from a range of modern surface analytical techniques to determine surface structure, composition and adsorption processes.

Workshops (MPA 5, MB 5, AH 5)
E-learning (on-line formative quizzes)
Office hours (weekly during course)
Pre-examination feed forward on Blackboard and questions attempted.
Post-examination feedback (able to view marked examination scripts)
 

• W. Clegg, Crystal Structure Determination, Oxford Chemistry Primers
• A. R. West, Basic Solid State Chemistry,Wiley
• L. Smart and E. Moore, Solid State Chemistry An Introduction, Chapman and Hall
• M. T. Weller, Inorganic Materials Chemistry, Oxford Chemistry Primers
• P.W. Atkins, J. de Paula and J. Keeler, Physical Chemistry, 11th Ed., Oxford University Press
• K.W. Kolasinski, Surface Science, 3rd Ed., Wiley