12-13 Coc Guide v7 - College of Chemistry - University of ...

28 Chemistry Minor
Note: The chemistry minor is not available to
chemical biology majors.
A minor in chemistry will be awarded to
students who have successfully completed
one year of organic chemistry (3A plus 3AL
and 3B plus 3BL, or 112A and 112B, or
equivalent), one year of physical chemistry
taken at Berkeley (120A-120B, or C130 and
130B), and two additional upper division
chemistry courses taken at Berkeley (with
the exception of courses numbered 190-199).
All of the courses taken for the minor must be
taken for a letter grade. Students must achieve
at least a 2.0 GPA in the courses taken for
the minor for each of the following: upper
division courses, courses taken at Berkeley, and
organic chemistry courses if taken at another
institution and accepted by the College of
Chemistry as equivalent to 3A plus 3AL, 3B
plus 3BL, 112A, or 112B. For the minor to be
awarded, the student must submit a notification
of completion of the minor at the College of
Chemistry Undergraduate Advising Office.
Note: Students must consult with their
colleges/schools for information on rules
regarding overlap of courses between their
majors and minors.
Faculty Research Interests
Berkeley students and faculty are engaged
in a variety of projects which cover the vital
areas of chemical research more broadly
than in any other department in the country.
There are research programs not only in the
traditional areas of analytical, inorganic,
physical, and organic chemistry, but also in
such diverse areas as chemical biology and
nuclear, biophysical, bio-organic, and space
and atmospheric chemistry.
Analytical Chemistry
Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry
have undergone explosive growth in recent
years due to powerful new developments
in instrumentation and methods for obtaining
increasing amounts of information from
smaller amounts of material. The analytical
research program at Berkeley encompasses a
variety of areas including electrochemistry,
microfabrication, nuclear magnetic resonance,
and mass spectrometry. Emphasis is
placed on developing new instrumentation
and methods for detecting trace analytes and
on methods for obtaining chemical structure
and understanding fundamental processes in
chemical measurements.
Main themes in electrochemical studies
are in electron tunneling kinetics, dynamic
processes in monolayers at the air/water
interface, and development of selective
electrochemical sensors based on molecular
recognition phenomena. Novel optical
methods are applied to air-water interfaces
and to observations of atmospheric
composition. Advanced microfabricated
chemical analysis methods that are being
developed include high speed, massively
parallel separation and detection methods for
the characterization of biological mixtures
with high sensitivity. “Laboratories on a
chip” are being designed and applied to new
methods for DNA sequencing, forensics,
genetic analysis and pathogen diagnostics
as part of the Human Genome Project. Mass
spectrometry methods for chiral recognition,
stereochemical differentiation, high-speed
sequencing, and direct characterization of the
contents of biological cells are active areas
of current research. Gas-phase ion chemistry
studies are used to obtain structural
information from biological molecules with
the goals of increasing the information
obtainable by tandem mass spectrometry of
complex biomolecule mixtures.
Biophysical Chemistry and
Chemical Biology
Many faculty in the College of Chemistry
take an interdisciplinary approach to the
study of the chemical basis for biological
phenomena, combining physical, synthetic,
and biochemical methods. Research
directions span from the behavior of single
molecules to the interactions between cells
in living animals. Systems being studied
include signaling proteins, enzymes, DNA
and RNA, membranes, and carbohydrates.
Within chemistry, the disciplines of physical,
organic, and analytical chemistry all
contribute valuable ideas to enhance our
understanding of the complexities in biology.
Progress is being made throughout this field
by combining new ideas in chemistry with
advances in molecular biology, biochemistry,
and biophysics.
The professors in the college have many
resources at their disposal to help make new
breakthroughs in understanding biology
from a chemical perspective. These include
new synchrotron light source producing an
exceptional X-ray beam for crystallography,
electron microscopes equipped for
diffraction work, and high field NMR
spectrometers.
Use of unnatural amino acids, isotopes, and
sophisticated new forms of spectroscopy are
also used to probe function. The roles of
metals, cofactors, and even hydrogen
tunneling in enzymatic reactions are being
studied. Ultrafast spectroscopy can follow
extremely fast photo-induced isomerizations
(such as occur during vision), electron
transfer processes, and electronic energy