Department of Chemistry, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
CH20013 Characterisation methods |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Intermediate |
| Semester: 1 |
| Assessment: EX 100% |
| Requisites: |
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This unit is only available to students on programmes in Natural Sciences.
Aims & Learning Objectives: To provide an introduction to a number of techniques for characterisation of chemical compounds, including an introduction to Group Theory and its applications in interpreting the spectra and structures of inorganic compounds. After studying this Unit, students should be able to: * Describe the principles underlying the techniques studied. * Interpret and make calculations based on simple X-ray diffraction patterns. * Interpret and predict NMR spectra for a range of nuclei other than 1H , 13C. * Interpret and predict ESR spectra. - Identify symmetry elements in and define the point group of a molecule. - Fully assign the vibrational spectra (IR and Raman) using Group Theory. * Use Group Theory to draw MO diagrams for simple chemical species. Content: Overview of X-ray generation and use of filters. Crystal classes, lattices and unit cells. Bragg's Law. Uses of powder diffraction. General principles of NMR - magnetic properties of nuclei, sensitivity and abundance. Spectra with I>1/2 nuclei. Chemical shifts and coupling constants. Problems with I> 1/2 nuclei. Magnetic properties of the electron and the origin and interpretation of ESR spectra. The concept of symmetry and symmetry operations and their use to generate point groups for molecular species. Group Theory and vibrational spectoscopy. |