Corso di laurea in Chimica e Tecnologie Chimiche

Mathematics
Physics
General and inorganic chemistry
Organic chemistry
Physical Chemistry

The course is not preparatory to future courses

The course provides foundations on intermolecular interactions and phenomenological chemical kinetics.

Knowledge and understanding

Students should be able to explain (also using adequate formalism, if necessary) the meaning and phenomenology related to:
• Electrostatic interactions
• Dispersive forces and their role in condensed phases
• Polarization
• Hydrogen bond and its main features
• Thermodynamics of the interaction
• Trouton law
• Elementary chemical step
• Reaction mechanism
• Activation energy of a chemical process
• Reaction order
• Stationary state approximation
• catalyzed reactions
• Adsorption and the Langmuir isotherm
• Reactions at surfaces
• Langmuir mechanism
• Rideal mechanism
• Reaction molecularity
• rate of a chemical reaction
• Rate determing step
• Reaction half-time
• Kinetic versus thermodynamic control
• Enzyme catalysis
• Enzymatic inhibition
• Physisorption and chemisorption

Applying knowledge and understanding

The student should also be able to solve simple numerical exercises with particular care on units of measurements. The student should also be able to handle experimental data with a linear regression model of which slope and intercept should be determined in  a geometrical fashion.

Making judgements

Students should be able to critically evaluate the results of calculations and the acceptability of the same based on their acquired chemical knowledge.

Communication skills

Students should be able to express fundamental concepts using correct language in a short text highlighting the acquired knowledge in a logical discourse.

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. Hours: 4
Catalysis and surfaces. Molina's mechanism for the stratospheric ozone
distruction. 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

The lessons will take place in presence

Theaching is carried out through lectures illustrating all the mathematical details of the various chemical-physical concepts through the commentary on the file of the handouts provided to the students. This mode allows students connected remotely to follow various reasoning. This methodology of solving and setting problems allows the development of a method of studying the concepts of physical chemistry. During the course we will make use of videos on youtube on topics that are not easy to apply in practice, the link of which is provided in the section dedicated to teaching material. Some lessons are held dedicated to the correct use of Excel for the treatment of experimental data through linear regression.

Teaching material published on Campusnet and moodle:

• Communication with students: email for specific questions

The examination 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.

Students with DSA or disabilities, please review the University's support (https://www.unito.it/servizi/lo-studio/studenti-e-studentesse-con-disabilita) and reception (https://www.unito.it/accoglienza-studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa) arrangements, and in particular the procedures required for exam support (https://www.unito.it/servizi/lo-studio/studenti-e-studentesse-con-disturbi-specifici-di-apprendimento-dsa/supporto).