Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• GRS CH 628: Protein Chemistry
  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
  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
  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
  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
  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
  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
  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
  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
  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
  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
  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
  Spectroscopic methods in organic structure determination, including mass spectrometry with main emphasis on nuclear magnetic resonance.
• GRS CH 647: The Chemistry of Biotechnology
  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
  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
  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.
• GRS CH 652: Molecular Quantum Mechanics II: Dynamics and Spectroscopy
  Time-dependent perturbation theory; potential surface; Born-Oppenheimer approximation/breakdown; radiation-matter interaction; line shapes; quantum density operator; quantum master equations; spin-boson model. Applications to absorption, Raman and CD spectroscopies; nonlinear and time domain spectroscopies including SHG, pump-probe, CARS, and photon echoes. Computational methods.
• GRS CH 653: Molecular Quantum Mechanics III: Electronic Structure
  Introduction to electronic structure theory and modern quantum chemistry software. Focus on theoretical foundations, capabilities, and limitations of wave-function- based and density functional theory methods. Relevant software tutorials and computational homework assignments. Skills to design and independently perform quantum chemical simulations.
• GRS CH 654: Methods of Chemical Physics
  Fundamentals and applications of theoretical methods in chemical physics. Vector calculus. Multipole expansion and normal modes. Fourier series and Fourier transforms. Laplace transforms. Functions of a complex variable. Green's function methods. Theory of linear vector spaces. Advanced matrix algebra. Eigenvalue problems.
• GRS CH 655: Statistical Mechanics I
  Basic concepts in statistics, thermodynamics, and quantum mechanics. Ensembles. Fermi-Dirac, Bose-Einstein, and Gibbs-Boltzmann statistics. Ideal gas, atomic crystals, Ising model, Langmuir isotherm, lattice statistics. Polyatomic molecules, polymers, and biomolecules. Polymer and polyelectrolyte solutions.
• GRS CH 656: Statistical Mechanics II
  Topics in equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics with chemical applications. Theories of gases and liquids, ionic solutions and interfaces, time correlation functions, linear response theory, Brownian motion, generalized Langevin equation, projection operator, rate theories, discrete kinetics, fluctuation theorem, phase transition.

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