The course is aimed at acquiring the theoretical and applicative principles of physical chemistry. The aim of the course is to provide students with the tools for understanding physical chemistry that studies the properties of matter through the thermodynamics and kinetics of reactions, through the quantities associated with them.

Measurements and sizes (review)

The gaseous state: equation of state, ideal gases, gas laws, real gases. Isothermal transformation, partial pressure, mole fraction.

Energy, work, reversible and expansion work, heat, heat capacity, internal energy, constant volume heat capacity. First law of thermodynamics, enthalpy, heat capacity at constant pressure and constant volume, molar enthalpy, the standard state, transformations in ideal gases (isobar, isochore, isotherm, adiabatic), phase concept.

Entropy and second law of thermodynamics (Clausius and Kelvin statements), entropy variations and pressure, volume and temperature variations for an ideal gas, absolute molar entropy, third law of thermodynamics, entropy associated with a phase transition, entropy variation environment, Gibbs energy, maximum non-expansive work, spontaneity of a reaction, thermodynamics of living beings, Gibbs energy for protein assembly, thermodynamics of hydrophobic interactions, formation of micelles and critical micellar concentration.

Physical transformations, phase transitions and state variations, molar Gibbs energy for an ideal gas, variation of Gibbs energy as pressure and temperature vary.

Phase diagrams, vapor pressure, phase boundaries, Clapeyron and Clausius-Clapeyron equations, temperature dependence of vapor pressure, characteristic points of a phase diagram, phase diagrams (carbon dioxide, water, helium), phase rule , phase diagrams of mixtures, distillation, fractional distillation, azeotropes.

Partial molar quantities, chemical potential, spontaneous mixing, ideal solutions, Raoult's law, Henry's law, the chemical potential of the solvent and the solute, activity coefficients, ionic solutes, ions and salts, average activity coefficients, Debye Hückel's theory (outline), ion transport across the cell membrane, electrochemical cells, cell potential.

Colligative properties (basic hypothesis), effect of colligative properties (thermodynamic justifications), lowering of the freezing point, raising of the boiling point, osmotic pressure, van's equation, osmotic pressure in the cell, reverse osmosis. Reaction mixtures (reactants and products), Gibbs energy variation with the composition, equilibrium reactions (the equilibrium constant), thermodynamic spontaneity of a reaction, Gibbs energy of standard reaction, Gibbs energy of formation standard, effect of conditions on equilibrium.

Effect of temperature on equilibrium conditions (van't Hoff equation).

Chemical kinetics, kinetic laws, speed of a reaction, instantaneous speed, kinetic constant, order of a chemical reaction, determination of kinetic laws, integrated kinetic laws and relative diagrams, zero order, first and second order kinetics, time halving.

Second part kinetics. Dependence of the reaction rate on temperature, Arrhenius equation, relationship between activation energy and kinetic constant, shock theory in gas phase reactions, formation of products in a reaction.

Reaction mechanisms (rationalization of kinetic laws), slow-stage approximation, consecutive reactions model, pre-equilibrium model, steady-state approximation model, the kinetically determining stage.

Catalysis and the concept of catalyst, enzymes and their characteristics, active site-substrate interaction, transition state theory, homogenous catalysis, enzymatic catalysis, Michealis-Menten mechanism, competitive and non-competitive enzymatic inhibition. Heterogeneous catalysis, physisorption and chemisorption, adsorption isotherm (Langmuir isotherm).

Quantum theory, characteristics of a wave, electromagnetic waves, concept of matter, interaction of electromagnetic waves and matter, the photoelectric effect, the concept of photon and quantum. Wave nature of matter, wave function, Schrödinger's equation, Born's interpretation, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.

Applications of quantum theory, molacular motions (translational, vibrational and rotational), the particle in the box, the tunnel effect, hydrogen-like atoms, atomic orbitals, the concept of spin, the Pauli principle.

Methods of chemical investigation, methods based on microscopy (hints: scanning tunneling microscope, atomic force microscopy). Molecular spectroscopy, description of a spectrometer and its components (outline), concept of absorption and emission of an electromagnetic radiation. Vibrational (infrared) and rotational (microwave) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, fluorescence, phosphorescence, quenching.

Electron spectroscopy, the chemical bond concept of molecule, molecular orbitals, energy levels, the ground state, electronic transitions, frontier orbitals. UV-Vis spectroscopy, characteristics of absorption, scheme of a spectrophotometer, concept of transmittance and absorbance, Lambert-Beer law and its limits. UV-Vis spectroscopy applications.

Nuclear magnetic resonance NMR (basic concepts), nuclear spin and resonance condition, chemical shift concept. Electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR), origin of the paramagnetic signal basic configuration of an EPR spectrometer, hyperfine structure, systems studied through electronic paramagentic resonance, use of nitroxide radicals, examples of systems studied through nitroxide radicals (edible oils, cosmetic creams).

It is advisable to have taken the exams of: Mathematics, Physics, General Chemistry.

D1- KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: The student will have to demonstrate knowledge of the principles of thermodynamics and its applications to the systems studied during the course, and will have to understand the kinetic laws governing the speed of reactions.

D2-ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: The student will have to demonstrate that he is able to apply the knowledge learned during the course and developed through the resolution of guided exercises, to independently solve problems of thermodynamics applied to different systems including biological ones.

D3-AUTONOMY OF JUDGMENT: The student must have acquired knowledge such as to allow him to identify methodologies that allow to know the chemical-physical processes, including those that can be applied to biological systems.

D4-COMMUNICATION SKILLS: The student must demonstrate that he can clearly report the main topics covered in the course. The student must have the ability to transmit the knowledge acquired in a clear and understandable way and accessible to non-competent people.

D5-LEARNING SKILLS The student must be able to autonomously understand scientific texts and be able to solve practical problems related to the topics addressed in the course. The formulation of the expected results will be such as to allow them to be measured according to different levels of mastery

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Students reception after contacting the teacher by e-mail.

Teaching

Frontal lessons

Attendance

Frontal lessons

Course books

Authors: Peter William Atkins, Julio de Paula

Title: Elements of physical chemistry

Fourth Italian edition based on the seventh English edition

ISBN: 9788808220684

Assessment

The assessment test is the same for all students, both attending and not. The exam consists of a written test. This choice is motivated by the fact that Physical Chemistry is an experimental science that is best understood through exercises that are relative and correlated to real experiments. The theory is essential from the practice therefore, for completeness, there are also questions of theory. The test consists of 5 questions of which 3 are numerical exercises and 2 are theory questions to be answered in writing. The three exercises will be numerical exercises that mirror those carried out during the lessons. The numerical exercises will be part of the program, ie from the beginning, including the colligative properties. The two questions concerning the theory could be on the whole program, paying attention to the demonstrations that have been faced during the course. It will be important to demonstrate, especially for the answers to the theory questions, that you have understood the aspects in question. It will therefore be necessary to discuss the theoretical parts and the one concerning the demonstrations, with adequate and understandable language. 6 points are awarded for each question, praise can be obtained based on the completeness of the answers.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Attendance

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Course books

Authors: Peter William Atkins, Julio de Paula

Title: Elements of physical chemistry

Fourth Italian edition based on the seventh English edition

ISBN: 9788808220684

Assessment

The assessment test is the same for all students, both attending and not. The exam consists of a written test. This choice is motivated by the fact that Physical Chemistry is an experimental science that is best understood through exercises that are relative and correlated to real experiments. The theory is essential from the practice therefore, for completeness, there are also questions of theory. The test consists of 5 questions of which 3 are numerical exercises and 2 are theory questions to be answered in writing. The three exercises will be numerical exercises that mirror those carried out during the lessons. The numerical exercises will be part of the program, ie from the beginning, including the colligative properties. The two questions concerning the theory could be on the whole program, paying attention to the demonstrations that have been faced during the course. It will be important to demonstrate, especially for the answers to the theory questions, that you have understood the aspects in question. It will therefore be necessary to discuss the theoretical parts and the one concerning the demonstrations, with adequate and understandable language. 6 points are awarded for each question, praise can be obtained based on the completeness of the answers.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.