CHEM 524 : 2013 : Optical Spectroscopy Methods in Analytical Chemistry
Meetings: Regular lectures: 170
SES, 2-3:15 PM on Tu-Th,
Occasional Extra sessions: on
Wed. (2 sections, 9-10 and 11-12?)
Lecturer: Tim Keiderling
- office: 5407B
Questions/Problems - any day after class or by appointment
best means of contact: e-mail: tak@uic.edu,
alternate, phone: x6-3156
For Keiderling
group research interests see: www.chem.uic.edu/takgroup
Course Web Site:
http://www.chem.uic.edu/tak/chem52413/
COURSE LEVEL: This course is a graduate
level Analytical Chemistry course on concepts and techniques related to optical
spectroscopy (UV-vis-IR) as used in chemistry and with a primary orientation
toward analysis. The lectures and the learning expected of you will go into
significantly more depth than the level and detail taught in an undergraduate
instrumental analysis sequence (e.g. Chem 421 at UIC) and will assume that you
are already familiar with the content of such a survey course. There will be
some overlap with the undergraduate curriculum (we will do some review);
however, some new aspects will not be fully covered in the lecture, but will require
your learning them by reading on your own. It is expected that you
will be come an independent learner and scientist in our program.
This is NOT a theory
of spectroscopy course; that is available at an advanced level in Chem.
543, offered alternate (?) Spring terms in the Physical Chemistry sequence and
at a more accessible level now each Spring for undergraduates as Chem 444.
However, it does assume that the student has an introductory exposure to such a
theoretical background at the senior undergraduate level, e.g. such as Chem
346-444 or Chem 344 at
REQUIREMENTS: There
will be aperiodic assigned homework and readings to illustrate the lectures and
enhance discussion. Active participation in class AND completion of homework
is expected for those taking the course for credit who wish to get a
"good" grade. Thus BOTH will be graded in terms of completion, but
not for "correctness". There is no assigned grader in Chem 524. Auditors are welcome and invited to participate.
EXAMS: There will be a Final exam which will reflect the
entire course. It is worth 40-50% of the points determining the grade. There
will also be an Hour exam (which is worth about half the final exam and is
used to gauge progress), probably in mid to late February.
PRESENTATION: Teams of two
(ideally) students will present a "sales pitch" to try to
convince the class (who will represent your "boss" ) to purchase a currently available commercial
instrument to solve a research/analytical problem. The teams will detail its
components and argue why those components are the best possible (including
cost-benefit trade-off) choices for some particular experiments. Presentations
are NOT pedagogical, they do not lecture, but rather try to convince one to buy
a specific instrument for a specific purpose. It will include results of
"comparison shopping" to show why competing instruments are not as
good choices for the particular application. A critical part of the evaluation
is based on how well you justify the instrument for the research/measurement
problem you propose. This is the kind of presentation you will be required to
make to your supervisors to gain funds for new instrumentation in the
"real world". A professional
presentation and write-up is expected, and the presentation, preparation
and writeup together will count as much as the hour exam.
Links to company and tutorial web sites are
invaluable for broadening and deepening your understanding and appreciation of
modern instrumentation. USE THEM
In addition I have put a link to differently formatted
lecture notes from old Fall 2005
and Spring 2009 offerings
of Chem 524 on a Web
Site: http://www.chem.uic.edu/tak/chem52413/.
CLASS MEETINGS. There are currently 2 Timetable meetings per week
scheduled for 1.5 hour each. We will occasionally need to go beyond the regular
lecture sessions so that we can go into some topics at greater depth (as the
class chooses), or answer extra questions, or work problems. We will also have
some optical equipment demonstrations (which will be during extra sessions
moved to 4342 SES) and we will need to make up for some missed classes when the
lecturer is forced to be away. To do this we will schedule an extra session (at
9 or
Additional demonstrations of relevant
equipment or computational techniques can
be arranged on request if anyone is interested.
TOPICS: (It may prove useful to alter
the order and timing of each topic as the class evolves during the semester.
Following student suggestions in the past, I will leave some of the details for
you to learn on your own from the text and handouts and will try to focus on
generalities and applications in lecture.)
Spectroscopic methods
(including presentations):
- -