Chemistry 443

Advanced Analytical Chemistry

Dr. Jeremy Ramsey

Spring 2006

Course Description

The material presented in this course covers the basic principles of instrumental analytical chemistry, including the fundamentals of spectroscopy, separation science, and electrochemistry.  Additionally, the course will cover the fundamentals of measurement science and biological analysis.

Philosophy of Instruction

Ultimately, the purpose of this course is for you to learn the foundations upon which modern instrumental analysis is based.  In my opinion, grades are secondary to your understanding of the subject, and ideally, I am willing to present each of you with an A.  In reality, some students will be more/less motivated or be more/less inclined toward the material.  These differences will lead to differences in performance.  My goal is to see each student achieve mastery of the subject and I am dedicated to reaching this goal.  The motivation, however, must begin with you.  Please take advantage of each and every opportunity that you have and we will both achieve the goals that we have for the semester.

Prerequisites

• Chemistry 331 and 332 (or permission of instructor)

• Knowledge of chemical reaction stoichiometry and equilibrium

• Introductory statistical analysis techniques

• Basic skills in Microsoft Excel

Meeting Times

                Lecture                  MWF                                      11:30-12:20 am                  215 Heim (to be changed!)

                Laboratory           T                                             1:00-4:50 pm                       207/223 Heim

Required Course Materials

• Quantitative Chemical Analysis, 6^th edition; Daniel C. Harris (5^th edition will be fine)

• Bound laboratory notebook

• Safety Glasses

• Calculator capable of performing logarithmic, exponential, and statistical functions

Office Hours

Since I tend to spend a lot of time in and around my office, I will not be having formal office hours for this course.  As many of you know, I encourage you to just stop by when you have a question or concern.  It does tend to get rather lonely sitting in my office working, so please stop by and make my day a little bit more interesting.

Grading

• There will be no makeup examinations or quizzes.  One legitimate exam absence (for instance, an illness or a funeral) can be replaced by the average exam score for the semester.

• Makeup laboratory experiments will be difficult, if not impossible, and will only be permitted for legitimate reasons.  If at all possible, please contact me before the laboratory period has been missed!  Attendance in laboratory is expected since we will be working in groups.

Quizzes

We will not be having regular quizzes in this course.  However, an unexcused absence may be cause for an unannounced quiz in either the lecture or laboratory portions of the course. The purpose of these quizzes is to ensure attendance in class.  As with the examinations, quizzes should be considered cumulative and may contain information from the laboratory or lecture portion of the course.

Department Participation

All chemists use chemical analysis techniques to some degree.  This is most clearly observed by watching others discuss chemical research.  For us this opportunity is chemistry colloquium and you will receive the full participation grade for attending at least SEVEN colloquia (the first five are worth three points each, the last two are worth five points each).  If you are unable to attend colloquia due to a scheduling conflict, you can receive the participation points by summarizing research articles.  You should discuss this with me before you begin summarizing articles.  

Homework

In this course, homework assignments will not be collected, but it is strongly suggested that you attempt them.  The selected homework problems provide an indication of the topics that I think are important.  This makes solving them of utmost importance to your grade and your performance in the course will likely correlate with the amount of time spent solving problems.  Because learning can be much more efficient through failure, I feel strongly that should be attempted individually before seeking help from others.  Answers can be checked with the solutions manual (a copy will be on reserve in the library and one will be available in my office).  Please feel free to stop by my office to discuss any difficulties you may have with any of the suggested problems.

Lab Reports

Lab reports are due one week (7 days) following completion of the experiment, unless otherwise informed by the instructor.  Grades on late lab reports will be reduced by 10% plus 5% per calendar day beyond the due date.  The format of the reports will be covered prior to the first, active laboratory period.

Presentation

Although it is often thought to be painful, the ability to orally present complicated concepts is one of the most important skills that you can possess.  Each student will be required to present a research article from the ACS journal, Analytical Chemistry.  Each presentation should be at a minimum 15 minutes long.  Each Friday (starting in week four or five), we will listen to two presentations.  The goal of any presentation is to convey information to the audience and will be evaluated based on how effectively the speaker achieves this goal.  The material presented will be covered on the examinations.

Examinations

Examinations will be given during laboratory sessions and will be administered on the following dates.  Because the material presented later in the class builds upon concepts presented earlier (and from Chemistry 332), all exams should be considered cumulative.  Changes to the exam schedule will be made only with unanimous consent of the class and must be made prior to January 16.

** The final examination time and date is established by the registrar.  It cannot be changed.

Safety

Safe laboratory practices, including proper attire, will be expected at all times.  Long pants are required as well as closed toe shoes (no sandals).  Wearing contact lenses during laboratory session is strongly discouraged, but may be tolerated with prior approval.  You will not be permitted to begin any experimental procedures until all safety concerns have been addressed.  Repeated safety violations will cause a zero to be rewarded for the experiment.

Laboratory Topic Schedule

The class schedule presented here is tentative and can (will!) change during the semester.