CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY: COURSES
All of the courses listed will not necessarily be offered in any one year. Topics courses may be taken several times provided the course content is different. Where prerequisites are not stated, consent of the instructor is required.
59-521. Special Topics in Analytical Chemistry
(Prerequisite: 59-321.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-531. Special Topics In Organic Chemistry
Topics may include polymer chemistry, natural product chemistry, physical organic chemistry, or design and execution of organic syntheses. (Prerequisite: 59-331 or consent of instructor.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-535. Advanced Organic Chemistry
Physical organic chemistry. Includes molecular orbital theory, stereochemistry, thermodynamics, and reaction mechanisms. (Prerequisite: consent of instructor.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-541. Statistical Thermodynamics
A detailed picture of the current status of advanced experimental and theoretical research in modern reaction dynamics. Subjects to be discussed include transition state spectroscopy, coincidence imaging techniques, ion imaging applied to the study of chemical dynamics, nonlinear reaction dynamics in both stirred and reaction-diffusion media, theoretical dynamics treatment of chemical reactions. (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-542. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Theory and applications of NMR in chemical problems, including the origin of the NMR phenomenon, Fourier transforms and spectral processing, spectrometer hardware, pulse sequences, NMR interactions, relaxation and chemical exchange, double-resonance experiments and two-dimensional NMR. (2 lecture hours a week).
59-545. Special Topics in Physical Chemistry
(2 lecture hours a week.)
59-546. Advanced Topics in Spectroscopy
Electronic and vibrational spectroscopy of gases, liquids, and solids. Theory and practice of infrared and Raman spectroscopy. Theory and applications of electron spin resonance spectroscopy. (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-550. Special Topics in Inorganic Chemistry
A variety of subjects in inorganic chemistry are covered at the discretion of the instructor. The subjects covered may include: main group chemistry, transition metal chemistry, organometallic chemistry, inorganic materials, and group theory. (3 lecture hours a week.)
59-552. Topics in Inorganic Chemistry and Organometallic Chemistry
Topics to be arranged by the instructor, based primarily upon new developments in the field as illustrated by the current research interests of the faculty, as well as by a study of the current literature. (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-553. X-ray Crystallography
Theoretical and experimental aspects of single crystal X-ray diffraction methods for the determination of molecular structures. (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-564. Advanced DNA Science
An advanced lecture and seminar course dealing with DNA science. The lectures cover the biochemistry of DNA and RNA at the molecular levels, the current research topics and their implications for the future research. The course also contains a seminar component in which a number of selected topics will be discussed and presented by and among participants. (Prerequisites: 59-468 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-565. Membrane Biochemistry
The structure and function of artificial and natural membranes. Special consideration will be given to the identification and function of membrane proteins. (Prerequisites: 59-360 and 59-361 or 59-362 and 59-363, or equivalent.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-570. Advanced Quantum Chemistry
Perturbation and variation theories. Theories of many electron atoms and general theories of chemical bonds in diatomic and polyatomic molecules. (Prerequisite: 59-341 or equivalent.) (3 lecture hours a week.)
59-581. Analytical Toxicology
Analysis of drugs and other toxic substances in biological fluids. The metabolism of drugs as well as the symptomology of poisoning of common therapeutic drugs and the more common industrial chemicals will be discussed. (Prerequisites: 59-360 and 59-361 or 59-362 and 59-363, or consent of instructor.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-600. Directed Special Studies
A special course of studies with content and direction approved by the student's research advisor and supervisory committee. Although there may be no formal lecture requirements, the course will be equivalent to three one-hour lectures a week for one term. The student will be required (a) to produce a critical review which will be assessed by his or her supervisory committee; the presentation and standard of the review must be appropriate for publication in a scientific journal; (b) to spend one term working in an agreed industrial setting; the quality of work will be assessed by the supervisory committee. This work may be related to but not part of the research undertaken in 59-797 or 59-798. (Prerequisite: approval of the Program Committee.)
The course cannot be repeated for credit under (a) above. Under normal circumstances, M.Sc. students may take this course only once; Ph.D. students may register under (b) above for two terms of this industrial experience.
59-620. Analytical Spectroscopy of Surfaces
Surface spectroscopic techniques and their application to the analysis of chemisorbed and physisorbed species and monomolecular layers. (Prerequisite: 59-321 or equivalent.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-630. Synthetic Methods in Organic Chemistry
A study of some important organic reactions with emphasis on their practical application in synthesis. (Prerequisites: 59-330 and 59-331, or consent of instructor.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-631. Advanced Topics in Organic Syntheses
The design, execution, and methodology of total syntheses of complex molecules will be discussed. Emphasis will be placed on both retrosynthetic pathways and execution. (Prerequisites: 59-330 and 59-331, or consent of instructor.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-633. Current Topics in Organic Chemistry
Topics to be arranged by the instructor, based primarily upon new developments in the field as illustrated by the current research interests of the faculty, as well as by a study of the current literature. (Prerequisites: 59-331 or consent of instructor.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-634. Advanced Topics in Organic Chemistry
Special topics in organic chemistry will be described. Some of these may include natural product chemistry, organometallic chemistry or heterocyclic chemistry. (Prerequisite: consent of instructor.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-636. Advanced Topics in Organic Materials Chemistry
Synthetic approaches as well as physical properties of organic materials such as conducting structures, liquid crystals, dyes, and light emitters are covered. An in-depth understanding of structure-property relationships is the main goal.
59-651. Organometallic Chemistry
A detailed study of selected advanced topics in organometallic chemistry. Typical subjects include (at the discretion of the instructors) main group organometallic chemistry; thermochemical methods in organometallic chemistry; catalysis by organometallics; detailed structural studies. (2 or 3 lecture hours a week.)
59-653. Advanced Topics in Organometallic Chemistry
Topics to be arranged by the instructor, based primarily upon new developments in the field as illustrated by the current research interests of the faculty, as well as by a study of the current literature. (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-655. Selected Topics in Inorganic Chemistry
The chemistry and properties of inorganic materials. Typical topics include: methods of synthesis, methods of characterization, and applications of inorganic materials. (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-660. Protein Chemistry I
Protein chemistry; chemical modification, protein folding, post-translational modification, lipoproteins, and glycoproteins. (Prerequisite: 59-365 or equivalent.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-661. Protein Chemistry II
Biophysical chemistry; advanced kinetic techniques, pre-steady state, perturbation based methods, review of instrumentation, and examples of how these techniques are currently used to solve biochemical problems. (Prerequisite: 59-660.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-663. Special Topics in Biochemistry
(Prerequisites: 59-360 and 59-361, or 59-362 and 59-363, or equivalent.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-671. Special Topics in Theoretical Chemistry
Topics to be selected by registrants but will generally be molecular orbital calculations for organic and inorganic chemists. (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-684. Cell Death and Diseases
A detailed biochemical study of physiological (apoptosis) and pathological (necrotic) cell death in mammalian systems. Role of physiological cell death (apoptosis) during development and tissue homeostasis, immune system and cancer. Various inducers of cell death and mechanism of apoptotic cell death. Role of cell death in disease development: viral infections, stroke, and neurodegenerative disorders, oxidative stress, cell death and aging, Therapeutic opportunities: identification of new targets for drug development based on the biochemistry of cell death. Developing new therapeutic approaches e.g. combinatorial treatment for systemic diseases, new vaccine approaches and gene therapy. (2 lecture hours per week.)
59-686. Advanced Bioanalytical Topics
(Prerequisite: 59-360 or 59-362, or equivalent.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
59-710. The Research Proposal
This course focuses on the development and presentation of a research proposal, as well as the cultivation of a wide base of knowledge of the chemical and biochemical literature. Techniques of research proposal composition, with particular reference to subject area, budgetary considerations, and written and oral presentation techniques will be discussed. The student will be required to develop and defend his or her own research proposal in chemistry and/or biochemistry. The subject of this proposal must not be from the research work undertaken for the Ph.D. thesis. A written proposal will be submitted to the student's advisory committee and will be followed by an oral presentation and defense of the proposal. The advisory committee will evaluate the originality, the significance, the clarity of the written and oral presentation, and the student's knowledge of the area in the defense. (Prerequisite: registration in the Ph.D. program. The oral presentation and proposal defense will take place during the term of registration.)
59-795. Seminar
59-797. Master's Thesis
59-798. Doctoral Dissertation