Chemistry: Molecular Driving Forces and Chemical Bonding

<p>Dive into the atomic and nanoscale world and learn how molecules and atoms interact and bond with each other. Get a grip on temperature and why it is so important in controlling balances in chemistry and living cells. We cover spectroscopy, quantum chemistry, intermolecular interactions, statistical thermodynamics, and a primer on using Python programming in chemistry.</p><p>KEMM30. The course provides a fundamental framework for describing (bio)molecules and their interactions from a microscopic perspective. This includes quantum chemistry, statistical thermodynamics, intermolecular interaction, and spectroscopy. The student gain insight into chemical bonding, molecular properties, and how these relate to thermodynamics, temperature and interactions in solution.</p> <p>The student will learn how spectroscopy and models of intermolecular interactions can be used to understand the properties of biomolecules, such as proteins, DNA and membranes. Concepts such as hydrophobic interactions, co-operative binding, depletion interactions, hydrogen bonding, electrical double layer will be treated.</p> <p>To handle large data sets, generated either from experiments, simulations, or database searches, the student will acquire basic programming and scripting skills to handle, analyze and present complex data.</p> <h3><strong>Course content</strong></h3> <p><em>Lectures:</em> Quantum chemistry and statistical thermodynamics, including a statistical interpretation of entropy, ensembles. The course highlights fundamental contributions to interactions between atoms, (bio)molecules and surfaces. The course also includes basic programming/scripts for import and analysis of complex data, assembly, visualization, and presentation of data. The basics of rotational, vibration and electronic spectroscopy, both in absorption and emission as well as basic concepts, Raman spectroscopy and circular dichroism spectroscopy are also treated.</p> <p><em>Exercises and assignments </em>illustrate and exemplify the concepts introduced and discussed in the lectures. </p> <p><em>Laboratory work </em>illustrate and exemplify the concepts introduced in the lectures and may be experimental or computational. Students are trained in report writing and peer review where other reports are assessed and constructive feedback is exchanged.</p>