Corso di laurea in Chimica e Tecnologie Chimiche

The course provides foundations on intermolecular interactions and phenomenological chemical kinetics with a single laboratory practice lasting 8h as a function of the physical laboratory availability.

A: KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
The acquisition of the classroom lectures should lead to knowledge and understanding of the following two topics:
1) intermolecular interactions from both a structural and energetic point of view.
2) basic concepts of chemical kinetics and chemical reactivity

B: ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
ability to solve exercises relating to the topics whose contents have been acquired under A.
ability to interpret data derived from experimental observations within a theoretical framework consistent with the topics developed under A.

C: AUTONOMY OF JUDGEMENT
Critically evaluate the results of calculations and experiments and determine their acceptability on the basis of the chemical/physical knowledge acquired

D: COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Mastery in the use of specialised chemistry-physics vocabulary and ability to expound effectively and linearly the key concepts of teaching

Intermolecular interactions. Short and long range interactions. Coulomb law. Ion-ion interactions. Madelung constant in ionic systems. Electric dipole. Ion-dipole interaction. Idration radius. Permanent dipole-dipole interactions. Keesom interactions. Free energy of interactions. Electric multipoles and their interactions. Induced dipole-dipole interactions. Atomic and molecular polarizabilities. Semiclassic treatment of London dispersive interactions. van der Waals solids and liquids. Total and repulsive interactions. The hydrogen bond. Role of dispersion forces in hydrogen bond adducts. Thermodynamic aspects of intermolecular interactions.
Trouton rule. Interactions strength in gas, liquids and solids. Crystalline, amorphous and polymeric materials. Material properties derived from atomic features. Hours: 12
Introduction to chemical kinetics. Relationships between kinetics and
thermodynamics. Intuitive examples on the kinetic control of reactions.
Operational definition of reaction rate. Kinetics and stoichiometry.
Relationship between reaction rate and stoichiometric coefficients. Hours: 4 .
Empirical reaction order. Relationship between reaction order and
stoichiometric coefficients. Methods to determine the kinetic law.
Isolation method. Method of the initial angular coefficients. Hours: 4
Elementary reactions. Molecularity. Kinetic equations for elementary
reactions. Relationship between reaction order and molecularity. Hours: 4
Integrated kinetic laws. Zero order reactions. First order reaction. Second
order reaction. Comparison between first and second order reaction.
Experimental problems in determining the correct order. Reactions close
to equilibrium. Relationship between semireaction kinetic constants and
thermodynamic one. Hours: 4
Radioactive decay as first order process. Radiation dating. Consecutive
reactions. Exact analytical solution. Stage determining the reaction rate. Hours: 2
Stationary state approximation. Temperature and reaction rate.
Arrhenius law. Genralized Arrhenius law. Hours: 4
Pre-equilibrium reactions. Third-order reaction. Negative activation
energy. Techniques to study ultrafast reactions. Flux techniques.
Relaxation methods. Hours: 4
First order competitive reactions. Thermodynamic control. Kinetic control.
Unimolecular reactions. Lindelmann-Hinshelwood mechanism. Hours: 4
Kinetics at surfaces: adsorption. Physisorption, chemisorption. Langmuir
isotherm. BET isotherm. Hours: 4
Catalysis and surfaces. Molina's mechanism for the stratospheric ozone
distruction. Ice as a catalyst. Hours: 2
Isosteric adsorption enthalpy. Adsorption rate. Sticking probability.
Desorption rate. Hours: 2
Enzyme as a catalysts. Lineweaver-Burk equations. Reactions catalyzed
by enzymes. Detailed example of enzymatic reactions. Serine proteinase:
action mechanism. Enzymatic inhibition (competitive, acompetitive, noncompetitive).
Detail example of linearization. Hours: 4

Chemical kinetics exercise to consolidate the processing of measured data. Hours: 8

Exams will be in the face-to-face mode.

Student examination  is carried out as a written test. It includes 8 questions related to important concepts explained in the lectures and numerical exercises. Simple numerical elaboration of experimental data is also required. This includes the ability to make a manual linear best fit to a set of experimental data. The exam will last 120 minutes.

The final score is the average of the score of each exercise (from 0 to 5 points), normalized to 30/30. The average is integrated by the evaluation (from -3 to+3 points) concerning clarity of the written style, proper and rigorous handling of numerical and measurement units in the exercises. The needed formal steps to arrive at a final formula are also required.
The teacher may evaluate a test as insufficient when serious flaws are found on basic important concepts (extensively explained during the lectures) despite the correctness of other points. The exam is passed if the final score is within the 18-30 range.  In case the student will get a score equal or higher than 18/30  but will not accept the vote the exam test should be repeated entirely in a new session and no reference at all to the previous score will be given.

The teaching material presented in class is available as a pdf file for this course.

Please note: in general, the information on wikipedia is relatively correct but must be critically checked against the notes or contents of the official recommended texts. The recommended texts are the most common, but any modern text on Physical Chemistry written by researchers in the field is sufficient. The use of AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, ...) is useful as additional support and the results provided must always be verified against the teaching material and official textbooks.

Students with disabilities and/or SLDs are kindly requested to review the University services dedicated to them at the following link https://www.unito.it/servizi/inclusione-ed-esigenze-specifiche. In particular, the support procedures for taking exams are available at the following links https://www.unito.it/servizi/inclusione-ed-esigenze-specifiche/servizi-la-disabilita/supporto-studenti-e-studentesse-con or https://www.unito.it/servizi/inclusione-ed-esigenze-specifiche/servizi-i-disturbi-specifici-di-apprendimento-dsa-3