PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
Structure:Quantum theory: principles and
techniques; applications to a particle in
a box, harmonic oscillator, rigid
rotor and hydrogen atom; valence bond and molecular orbital theories, Hückel approximation;
approximate techniques: variation and perturbation; symmetry, point groups; rotational,
vibrational, electronic, NMR, and ESR spectroscopy
Equilibrium: Kinetic theory of gases; First
law of thermodynamics, heat, energy, and work; second law of thermodynamics
and entropy; third law and absolute entropy; free energy; partial molar quantities; ideal and
non-ideal solutions; phase transformation: phase rule and phase diagrams – one, two, and three
component systems; activity, activity coefficient, fugacity, and fugacity coefficient; chemical
equilibrium, response of chemical equilibrium to temperature and pressure; colligative
properties; Debye-Hückel theory;
thermodynamics of electrochemical cells; standard electrode potentials:
applications – corrosion and energy conversion; molecular partition function
(translational, rotational, vibrational, and electronic).
Kinetics: Rates of chemical reactions,
temperature dependence of chemical reactions; elementary, consecutive, and
parallel reactions; steady state approximation; theories of reaction rates – collision and
transition state theory, relaxation kinetics, kinetics
of photochemical reactions and free radical
polymerization, homogeneous catalysis, adsorption
isotherms and heterogeneous catalysis.
INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Main group elements: General characteristics,
allotropes, structure and reactions of simple and industrially important
compounds: boranes, carboranes, silicones, silicates, boron
nitride, borazines and phosphazenes.
Hydrides, oxides and oxoacids of pnictogens (N, P), chalcogens (S, Se & Te) and halogens,
xenon compounds, pseudo halogens and interhalogen compounds. Shapes of molecules and hard-
soft acid base concept. Structure and Bonding (VBT) of B, Al, Si, N, P, S, Cl compounds.
Allotropes of carbon: graphite,
diamond, C60. Synthesis and reactivity of inorganic polymers of Si and
P.
Transition Elements: General characteristics of d
and f block elements; coordination chemistry: structure and isomerism,
stability, theories of metal- ligand bonding (CFT and LFT), mechanisms of substitution and
electron transfer reactions of coordination complexes. Electronic spectra and magnetic
properties of transition metal complexes, lanthanides and actinides. Metal carbonyls, metal- metal bonds
and metal atom clusters, metallocenes; transition metal complexes with bonds to hydrogen,
alkyls, alkenes and arenes; metal carbenes; use of
organometallic compounds as catalysts in
organic synthesis. Bioinorganic chemistry of Na, K. Mg, Ca, Fe, Co, Zn, Cu and Mo.
Solids:Crystal systems and lattices,
miller planes, crystal packing, crystal defects; Bragg’s Law, ionic crystals, band theory,
metals and semiconductors, Different structures of AX, AX2, ABX3 compounds, spinels.
Instrumental methods of
analysis: Atomic absorption and
emission spectroscopy including ICP-AES, UV- visible
spectrophotometry, NMR,
mass, Mossbauer spectroscopy
(Fe and Sn), ESR spectroscopy,
chromatography including GC and HPLC and electro-analytical methods
(Coulometry, cyclic
voltammetry, polarography– amperometry, and ion
selective electrodes).
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Stereochemistry: Chirality of organic
molecules with or without chiral centres. Specification of configuration in compounds
having one or more stereogeniccentres. Enantiotopic and diastereotopic atoms, groups
and faces. Stereoselective and stereospecific synthesis. Conformational analysis of
acyclic and cyclic compounds. Geometrical isomerism. Configurational and
conformational effects on reactivity and selectivity/specificity.
Reaction mechanism: Methods of determining
reaction mechanisms. Nucleophilic and electrophilic substitutions
and additions to multiple bonds. Elimination reactions. Reactive intermediates- carbocations,
carbanions, carbenes, nitrenes, arynes, free
radicals. Molecular rearrangements involving
electron deficient atoms.
Organic synthesis: Synthesis, reactions,
mechanisms and selectivity involving the
following-alkenes, alkynes, arenes,
alcohols, phenols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic
acids and their derivatives, halides, nitro
compounds and amines. Use of compounds of Mg, Li, Cu, B and Si inorganic synthesis. Concepts in
multistep synthesis- retrosynthetic analysis,
disconnections, synthons, synthetic
equivalents, reactivity umpolung, selectivity, protection and deprotection of functional groups.
Pericyclic reactions: Electrocyclic, cycloaddition
and sigmatropic reactions. Orbital correlation, FMO and PMO treatments.
Photochemistry: Basic principles.
Photochemistry of alkenes, carbonyl compounds, and arenes. Photooxidation and
photoreduction. Di-π- methane rearrangement,
Barton reaction.
Heterocyclic compounds: Structure, preparation,
properties and reactions of furan, pyrrole, thiophene, pyridine, indole
and their derivatives.
Biomolecules: Structure, properties and
reactions of mono- and di-saccharides, physicochemical properties of amino acids,
chemical synthesis of peptides, structural features of proteins, nucleic-acids, steroids, terpenoids,
carotenoids, and alkaloids.
Spectroscopy: Principles and applications
of UV-visible, IR, NMR and Mass spectrometry in the determination of
structures of organic molecules.