Senior Freshman Programme 2013/2014 - Trinity College Dublin

phenomena such as solubility and the full range of colligative properties
of solutions.
• Chemical Kinetics: Introduction to the principles of chemical reaction
kinetics with the development of pertinent mathematical skills essential
for kinetic analysis of simple chemical systems, and the application of
kinetic ideas to an understanding of enzyme and heterogeneous
catalysis.
• Introduction to Organic Synthesis: Students are introduced to the
concept of organic synthesis and the use of retrosynthetic analysis in
determining ways of designing synthetic routes. This is followed by indepth
discussion of the use of organometallic chemistry in carbon-carbon
bond formation; the formation and elimination of alcohols, the generation
of carbanions (enolates), stabilized anions and their use in C-C bond
formation. The module concludes with an introduction to pericyclic
reactions and the formation of double bonds using ylides. Lectures on
stereochemistry and carbohydrates provide an introduction to isomers
and stereochemistry, including enantiomers, diastereoisomers, chirality
and asymmetric synthesis. An introduction to carbohydrate chemistry
and strategies for controlling region- and stereoselectivity in
glycosylation reactions is also provided.
Module CH2202
10 credits
(Coordinator: Dr Paula Colavita: colavitp@tcd.ie)
This module will cover topics in:
• Main Group Chemistry: Hydrogen chemistry and hydrides; alkali and
alkaline earth metals; anomalies of Li and its diagonal relationship with
Mg; unique features of boron chemistry; B-Al contrast in halides;
complexes of Al and Ga; inert pair effect; allotropy of carbon, chemistry
of tetravalent and divalent oxidation states of Si, Ge, Sn and Pb; group-
15 hydrogen compounds; halides, oxides and oxo-anions; allotropes of
oxygen, compounds of S.
• Nuclear and Medicinal Inorganic: Nuclear chemistry, including the
different kinds of decay, kinetics, mass loss and energy, half-life, radiocarbon
dating, nuclear metals in medicine (radiation therapy).
Medicinal chemistry including HSAB principle, chelation therapy (Fe, Hg,
Tl, Pb), and cisplatin for cancer treatment (DNA adducts, side effects,
resistance).
• Theoretical and Quantum Chemistry: The student will be introduced
to the basic aspects of quantum mechanics and the use of Schrödinger’s
equations to describe particle systems in chemistry. This topic will
emphasize how the solutions to Schrodinger’s equation are connected to
experimental observables and spectroscopic results, and how to use
these results to obtain structural information about molecules and atoms.
• Chemistry of Aromatic Compounds: This topic will consider the
importance of aromatic chemistry by illustrating the number of
important drugs (and some other important every-day chemicals)
containing an aromatic moiety. The student will receive a brief recap on
the structure of benzene, bonding, bond lengths, aromatic stabilization,
and on comparison of the chemistry of alkenes to that of aromatic
compounds (addition versus substitution reactions). An overview of
electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions with detailed mechanistic
considerations and an analysis of directing effects will be provided. The
requirements for the different methods of nucleophilic aromatic
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