Advanced Physical Chemistry

Full course description

The course introduces students to chemical kinetics, the branch of physical chemistry that helps to understand the rates of chemical reactions and provide concrete evidence for the mechanisms of chemical reactions. It will first cover phenomenological kinetics of simple and complex reactions (e.g. parallel, consecutive, chain reactions, chemical oscillations), before moving on to collision theory and transition state theory (developed by Eyring, Evans and Polanyi). The course will end by presenting elements of photochemistry and some kinetic theories of catalysis.

Course objectives

Students are expected to:

Calculate and interpret kinetics data (e. g. chemical reaction rates, rate constants);
Use steady state approximation and predict mechanisms of chemical reactions;
Understand kinetic theory of gases;
Apply transition state theory and collision theory;
Understand photochemistry and Jablonski diagrams.

Prerequisites

MAT2006 (or higher level math courses)

Co-requisites

None

Recommended

CHE2003

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Advanced Physical Chemistry