Chemical Structure and Reactivity 2

This course will assume an undergraduate level knowledge and understanding of chemical structure and reactivity and the methods of structural elucidation. The course will continue to develop an integrated approach to chemical education through instruction in theoretical and practical aspects of inorganic and organic chemistry. The organic component of the course will be centred on the important area of carbonyl chemistry and highlight the significance and applications of this area of chemistry. In particular the significance of carbonyl chemistry in biological systems and medicine will be developed. The inorganic chemistry component of the course will provide an introduction to organometallic chemistry from both fundamental (structure and bonding) and applied (reactivity, synthesis , catalysis) perspectives. Topics to be covered will include the wide variety of carbon based ligands, the various processes that allow for their interconversion and the inclusion of such transformations in catalytic processes for the metal mediated synthesis of both fine and bulk chemicals. Laboratory experiments are designed to provide augmentation and/or complementation of the material taught in lectures. Students will be exposed to important techniques in synthetic chemistry and become adept at their implementation whilst further developing their skills in the spectroscopic characterisation of compounds. This course is co-taught with undergraduate students but assessed separately.