Chemistry

  • GRS CH 623: Chemical Biology
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: GRS CH 621; (GRSCH622 recommended), or consent of instructor.
    Research at the chemistry-biology interface, including directed evolution, unnatural amino acid mutagenesis, chemical genetics, proteomics, and fluorescent reporters of enzyme function. Reading, discussing and evaluating the current chemical biology literature is a significant component of the course.
  • GRS CH 624: Macromolecular Structure Determination
    Graduate Prerequisites: CH/BI 421; or equivalent, or consent of instructor
    This course covers the determination of structures of biological macromolecules including RNA, DNA, and proteins. Topics include macromolecular assemblies and symmetry, crystal forms, diffraction, phase determination, data acquisition, model building and refinement, model analysis and homology modeling.
  • GRS CH 625: Enzymology: Mechanisms of Enzymatic Reactions
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 421; or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
    Covers enzyme structure-function relationships. A tool-box of methods is presented, including kinetics (steady state and pre-steady state methods), isotope effects, stereo-chemical methods, site-directed mutagenesis, methods to replace natural with unnatural amino acids, mechanism based inhibitors.
  • GRS CH 626: Epigenetics
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 421; or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
    Surveys protein post-translational modifications and DNA/RNA processing, including mechanistic enzymology of protein and DNA modifications, signal transduction induced by the modifications, and related practical applications.
  • GRS CH 627: RNA Structure and Function
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 421; or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
    Chemical and structural biology of natural RNA molecules, including ribosomal RNA, catalytic RNA (ribozymes), siRNA (small interfering RNA), microRNA, long non-coding RNA, riboswitches, and CRISPR.
  • GRS CH 628: Protein Chemistry
    Graduate Prerequisites: GRS CH 621; or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
    The structure and function of selected enzymes, motor/pump proteins, and structural protein assemblies, highlighting concepts in macromolecular structure analysis, including linking structure and dynamics to catalysis. Analysis of selected primary literature underscoring structural underpinnings via molecular graphics.
  • GRS CH 629: DNA Nanotechnology
    Graduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 421; or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
    Structural biology of DNA. Synthetic DNA objects, DNA origami, DNA templated synthesis, and DNAzymes. The main focus is DNA in nanotechnology, not the involvement of DNA in cell and molecular biology.
  • GRS CH 631: Advanced Coordination Chemistry I: Structure and Bonding
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 232; or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
    The interdependence of chemical bonding, spectroscopic characteristics, and reactivity properties of coordination compounds and complexes are described and formalized using the fundamental concept of symmetry, as applied to inorganic coordination complexes.
  • GRS CH 632: Advanced Coordination Chemistry II: Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 232 and CAS CH 214; or consent of instructor.
    The mechanistic study of ligand substitution and electron transfer processes in coordination compounds are discussed in the context of basic molecular orbital theory. The connections between small molecule inorganic and biological macromolecular metal-catalyzed processes are presented.
  • GRS CH 633: Physical Methods for Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 232 and CAS CH 352 or GRS CH 631; or equivalents, or consent of instructor.
    A discussion of the physical techniques for the study of structural, magnetic, and redox-active properties of transitional metal complexes. Techniques discussed include x-ray crystallography; x-ray absorption; vibrational, NMR, EPR, and Mossbauer spectroscopies; and electrochemistry.
  • GRS CH 634: Metallobiochemistry
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 232 and CAS CH 421; or equivalents, or consent of instructor.
    The roles of transition metals in biology are assessed by review of the structural, spectroscopic, and genetic aspects of metallobiochemistry. Metal import and trafficking; cofactor biogenesis; biocatalytic transformations in biochemistry; reactive oxygen species; the inorganic basis of life.
  • GRS CH 635: Synthetic Methodology in Inorganic Chemistry
    Graduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 232; or equivalent.
    The descriptive chemistries of the metallic elements are surveyed to develop a broad knowledge of these elements and how to prepare their compounds and understand the resultant reactivities. Case studies are taken from older and recent literature sources.
  • GRS CH 641: Physical Organic Chemistry
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 352; or equivalent or consent of instructor.
    Physical fundamentals of organic chemistry. Thermodynamics, kinetics, molecular orbital theory, and theory of concerted reactions. Isotope effects, aromaticity, linear free energy relationships, acidity functions, photo- and free-radical chemistry.
  • GRS CH 642: Organic Reaction Mechanisms
    Graduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 212 and CAS CH 301; or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
    Fundamentals of organic reaction mechanisms related to acid/base catalysis, reactions of the carbonyl group, cycloadditions, nucleophilic displacement reactions, and redox chemistry.
  • GRS CH 643: Synthetic Methods of Organic Chemistry
    Graduate Prerequisites: GRS CH 642.
    Organic synthesis strategies for total synthesis of complex natural products. Various approaches for organic molecules whose synthesis constitutes major contributions to organic chemistry.
  • GRS CH 645: Transition Metal Chemistry
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: junior standing and CAS CH 203/204 (or CH 203/214 or CH 211/212) and CH 232; recommended corequisite: CH 301.
    Introduction to the concepts of transition metal-mediated reactions and mechanisms, including electronic structure and properties, reaction mechanisms, kinetics, organometallic compounds, catalytic reactions, and aspects of asymmetric catalysis.
  • GRS CH 646: Organic Spectroscopy and Structure Determination
    Graduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 212 and CAS CH 351; or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
    Spectroscopic methods in organic structure determination, including mass spectrometry with main emphasis on nuclear magnetic resonance.
  • GRS CH 647: The Chemistry of Biotechnology
    Graduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 212 or CAS CH 214, CAS CH 301, CAS CH 422.
    This course focuses on the application of chemical principles in different biotechnologies. With the importance of the biotechnology sector nationally and in Boston, this interdisciplinary course explores how the chemical sciences contribute to this growing area.
  • GRS CH 648: Contemporary Drug Discovery
    Graduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 203/204, CH 203/214, or CH 211/212; or equivalent, or consent of the instructor.
    This course is aimed at graduate and advanced undergraduate students who have an interest in drug discovery research. It covers the key theory and practice associated with the discovery and development of drugs and tool compounds. In focusing on the biochemical and pharmacological aspects of drug discovery, it complements GRS CH644 Medicinal Chemistry. Three hours lecture.
  • GRS CH 651: Molecular Quantum Mechanics I: Fundamentals
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS CH 351 and CAS CH 352; or equivalent.
    Postulates and general formalism with emphasis on chemical applications; application to particle in a box, harmonic oscillator, hydrogen atom; tunneling; angular momentum theory, spin, spin-orbit coupling; ladder operators; time- independent perturbation theory, computational methods including tight-binding model and Huckel theory.