Department of Chemistry
704-687-4765
http://www.chem.uncc.edu/grad/
Degrees
M.S. in Chemistry
Ph.D. Interdisciplinary degree in Biotechnology and BioMedicine
Ph.D. in Materials through Mechanical Engineering
Ph.D. in Optics and Optoelectronics
Coordinator
Dr. Brian T. Cooper
btcooper@email.uncc.edu
Graduate Faculty
Banita W. Brown, Associate Professor
Brian T. Cooper, Associate Professor
Bernadette T. Donovan-Merkert, Professor, Departmental Chair
Thomas D. DuBois, Charles H. Stone Professor of Chemistry
Mahnaz El-Kouedi, Assistant Professor
Daniel S. Jones, Associate Professor
Joanna K. Krueger, Associate Professor
Craig A. Ogle, Professor
Jordan C. Poler, Associate Professor
Daniel Rabinovich, Associate Professor
John M. Risley, Professor
Thomas, A. Schmedake, Assistant Professor
Wade N. Sisk, Associate Professor
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN CHEMISTRY
The Chemistry Department offers a research-based Master of Science (M.S.) degree, which provides the background necessary for further graduate or professional studies in the physical, life or medical sciences or a career in chemistry. The M.S. degree requires a minimum of 30 credit hours and a thesis based on original research carried out under the direction of a member of the graduate faculty. Student participation in research activities is through selection of a faculty adviser and enrollment in the special research courses offered. Major emphasis is placed upon the research project and required thesis. UNC Charlotte B.S. degree chemistry majors may elect to participate in the five year Accelerated Early Entry M.S. program (described in the undergraduate catalog).
Additional Admission Requirements
In addition to the general requirements for admission to the
1) A satisfactory score on the Graduate Record Examination.
2) Administration of placement examinations by the department each semester just prior to registration as an aid in identifying academic deficiencies.
3) Removal of any deficiencies within one year.
4) A score of 220 or better is required on the computer based TOEFL for international students.
Degree
Requirements
The candidate for the degree must present a minimum of 30 semester hours including at least 15 semester hours in 6000-level courses open to graduate students only. Required courses may include CHEM 3141, 3142, 5111, 5121, 5133, 5134 5135 or 5165. Two semester hours of graduate seminar, CHEM 6681 and CHEM 6682, and at least one, but up to 16 semester hours of research and thesis credit, CHEM 6900, must be taken. In addition, six semester hours from the course group CHEM 6060, 6069, 6082, 6101, 6115, 6125, 6126, 6135, 6138, 6145, 6146, 6147, 6155, 6165, or MEGR 6109 or another course that has been approved by the Chemistry faculty, are required. Departmental approval is necessary before CHEM 6060 credit can be used to satisfy this requirement. Any 5000 level or higher Biology, Engineering, Mathematics or Physics course, except those designed for a professional education sequence, may be taken for graduate credit upon departmental approval. Well-prepared students, particularly those with degrees from ACS-approved programs, will normally satisfy the requirement for CHEM 3141, 3142, 5111, 5121, 5133, 5134, 5135 or 5165 through placement examinations administered after admission. In those cases, hours that would have been earned for these courses may be replaced by research, CHEM 6900, or by elective courses. A grade point average of 3.0 is required for the degree. An accumulation of two marginal (C) grades on the graduate transcript will result in termination of the student’s enrollment in the M.S. Program and a termination of any assistantships and fellowships they were receiving.
A student in the chemistry M.S. program is required to maintain satisfactory progress toward the degree. Continued enrollment is at all times subject to review on the basis of academic record. This review is performed by the departmental Graduate Committee.
Admission to Candidacy
An Admission to Candidacy form must be submitted approximately one month prior to the beginning of the semester in which the graduate student expects to complete all requisites for the M.S. degree.
Assistantships
Graduate students generally support their education through teaching or research assistantships available through the Chemistry Department. The department also sponsors the Gary Howard Research Fellowship competition, which provides significantly greater support to one highly qualified applicant. Tuition waivers are also available to external applicants through the Thomas Walsh Tuition Fellowships. Many faculty may offer research assistantships to qualified students Further information is available in the Department. Support in the summer months is also available.
Electives
Any 5000 level or higher Biology, Engineering, Mathematics or Physics course, except those designed for a professional education sequence, may be taken for graduate credit upon departmental approval.
Advising
Approval of the program of each student and monitoring his/her progress toward the degree is the responsibility of the student's research adviser. Prior to the selection of a research adviser, graduate student progress is monitored by the departmental Graduate Committee.
Thesis
A thesis must be written and defended within six calendar years after admission into the M.S. program as a degree student.
Thesis
Committee
The written thesis is defended before the department and a special thesis committee of no fewer than four persons, with at least one member from outside of the Chemistry Department.
Application
for Degree
The Application for Degree can be submitted on the form
supplied by the
Research
Experiences
Chemistry faculty offer
research opportunities in all areas of
molecular and nanoscale sciences, and many
participate in formal or informal interdisciplinary research programs. Faculty
research interests include computational chemistry, organic synthesis, polymer
chemistry, organometallic chemistry, structural and
mechanistic organic chemistry, electrochemistry, materials and interfacial
chemistry, catalysis, biochemistry, biophysical chemistry, analytical
separations, bioanalytical chemistry, mass
spectrometry, and chemical education. Many chemistry faculty
are active participants in interdisciplinary research projects in biotechnology
and biomedicine, optical science, materials science, or electrical engineering.
Students receive academic credit for their research and benefit from a low
student-to-faculty ratio. Graduate students are assigned individual projects
and work closely with faculty members to build their own, original contribution
to the scientific literature. Students have full access to and receive
excellent training in the use of any departmental instrumentation needed to
carry out their research. Results are presented at informal seminars,
scientific conferences, and in articles published in high-quality, refereed
journals. Research in the Department is funded in part from competitive
grants obtained from agencies such as the American Chemical Society, National
Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, DoD, DoE, Research
Corporation, Dreyfus Foundation,
Tuition
Waivers
Fellowships are available for students enrolled in the Master’s degree program in Chemistry and for students seeking an interdisciplinary Doctoral degree through the Chemistry Department. Further information is available in the Department.
Courses in Chemistry
CHEM 5090. Special Topics in Chemistry. (1-4) Prerequisite: consent of the instructor. Selected topics in chemistry. Lecture and/or laboratory hours will vary with the nature of the course taught. May be repeated for credit. (On demand)
CHEM 5095. Topics for Teachers. (1-4) Prerequisite: consent of the instructor. Selected topics in chemical education. Lecture and/or laboratory hours will vary with the nature of the course taught. May be repeated for credit. (On demand)
CHEM 5111. Instrumental Analysis. (3-4) Prerequisites: Consent of the instructor. Selected modern instrumental methods of analysis, including theory and practice, with considerable attention given to the instrument and elementary electronics involved in the techniques. Two lecture hours and six hours of lab per week. (Spring)
CHEM 5121. Advanced Inorganic Chemistry. (3-4) Prerequisites: Consent of the instructor. Theoretical inorganic chemistry including the application of physicochemical principles to the study of inorganic systems. Laboratory work involves inorganic preparations and characterization techniques. Three lecture hours and one laboratory period of three hours a week. (Fall)
CHEM 5133. Methods of Organic Structure Determination. (2) Prerequisites: Consent of the instructor. Study and application of modern techniques, primarily spectroscopy, to determine the structure of organic molecules. One hour of lecture and one laboratory period of three hours each week. (Spring)
CHEM 5134. Organic Reaction Mechanisms. (2) Prerequisites: Consent of the instructor. Mechanistic and theoretical topics which are beyond the scope of CHEM 2131/2132, including orbital symmetry control of organic reactions, the Hammett Equation and other linear free energy relationships, heterocyclic compounds, polycyclic aromatic compounds, organic photochemistry, carbines, nitrenes, arynes and other short lived, reactive intermediates. (Spring) (Alternate years)
CHEM 5135. Concepts and Techniques in Organic Synthesis. (2) Prerequisite or co-requisite: CHEM 5133, or consent of the instructor. Modern techniques of organic synthesis. Laboratory includes one or more multi-step syntheses of complex molecules. One hour of lecture and one laboratory period of three hours each week. (Spring) (Alternate years)
CHEM 5165. Principles of
CHEM 5165L. Principles of Biochemistry I Laboratory. (1) Prerequisite or corequisite: CHEM 5165. Physical properties of biological molecules and an introduction to experimental techniques in biochemical research. Eleven four-hour lab periods. (Fall)
CHEM 5166. Principles of Biochemistry II. (3) Prerequisite: CHEM 5165 with a grade of B or better. A study of various metabolic pathways and information transfer including molecular aspects of cell biology and genetics, with particular emphasis on the underlying chemical reactions, including thermodynamics and kinetics. (Spring)
CHEM 5167. Structure and Mechanism in Protein Chemistry (3) Prerequisites: CHEM 5165, and either CHEM 5166 or BIOL 5171, or consent of the instructor. Examination of structures, properties, and functions of proteins, enzyme catalysis, and bioenergetics, emphasizing underlying mechanistic chemical and biochemical principles. (Spring) (Alternate years)
CHEM 5171. Biochemical Instrumentation. (4) Prerequisites: CHEM 5165 and 5165L with a grade of B or better or the consent of the department. Modern instrumental methods used in biorelated areas such as biochemistry, biotechnology and medical technology. Theory and practice. Potentiometry, spectrophotometry, chromatography, sedimentation, and electrophoresis. Two lecture hours and two three-hour laboratory periods per week. (Spring)
CHEM 5175. Physical Biochemistry. (3) Prerequisites: CHEM 5165, 5165L, and 5166, with a grade of B or better, or consent of the instructor. Colloid systems, equilibria in biological fluids, mass and energy transport in fluids and in association with membranes, energy storage and dissipation with relation to specific chemical bonding, enzyme kinetics. (On demand)
CHEM 5185. Chemical Fate of Pollutants. (3) Prerequisites: satisfactory score on chemistry proficiency exam, or consent of the instructor. Chemical reactivity and fate of pollutants (in air, water, soil) in terms of their chemical structure and energetics, mechanisms, structure/energy relationships and their interaction with reactive environmental species including light. (Spring) (Alternate years)
CHEM 5200. Computational Chemistry. (4) Prerequisite or co-requisite: Consent of instructor. Electronic and molecular mechanics-based computational methods, including properties, optimized equilibrium and transition state structures and potential energy surfaces of reactions. Three lecture hours and three hours of laboratory each week. Additional projects required of graduate students. (Fall, Spring)
CHEM 6060. Special Topics and Investigations. (1-3) Prerequisite: consent of the instructor. Directed study of topics of current chemical interest. May be repeated for credit. (On demand)
CHEM 6069. Topics in Biochemistry. (3) Prerequisites: CHEM 6165, or consent of instructor. Discussion of current topics in biochemistry emphasizing their biomedical/biotechnological aspects from bioinorganic chemistry, bioorganic chemistry, bioanalytical chemistry, biophysical chemistry, biocomputational chemistry, biomaterials. May be repeated for credit. Three lecture hours per week. (Spring)
CHEM 6082. Surfaces and Interfaces of Materials Chemistry. (3) Prerequisites: Any three semesters of undergraduate calculus based mathematics (i.e., MATH 1241, 1242, and 2241) and an upper level undergraduate course in thermodynamics (i.e., CHEM 3142, PHYS 3151 OR MEGR 3112) or consent of the instructor. Theoretical basis, conceptual understanding and experimental investigations of the properties of surfaces and interfaces of various classes of materials will be presented. The content of this course will build from a rigorous derivation of the physical chemistry of surfaces and interfaces to a discussion of topical materials classes and specific materials properties. Three lecture hours each week. (Alternate years)
CHEM 6101. Biochemical principles. (3) Prerequisites: Consent of instructor. Molecular biophysics of biological molecules. Bioenergetics of biological reactions and enzyme structure, mechanisms, and regulation. Metabolic pathways and the role of cellular organelles. Biochemical analysis methodology. Twenty-three two-hour lectures. (Fall)
CHEM 6115. Advanced Analytical Chemistry. (3) Prerequisite: CHEM 5111 with a grade of B or better, or consent of the instructor. The application of modern analytical methods to chemical problems. Emphasis is upon the chemical information, particularly structural, obtainable from these techniques. (On demand)
CHEM 6125. Theoretical Inorganic Chemistry. (3) Prerequisite: CHEM 5121 with a grade of B or better, or consent of the instructor. Group theoretical treatment of current theories of inorganic chemistry. Topics covered: Ligand field theory, molecular orbital theory for complex ions, electronic spectra of complex ions and the magnetic properties of complex ions. (On demand)
CHEM 6126. Organometallic Chemistry. (3) Prerequisites: Consent of instructor. Previous or concurrent enrollment in CHEM 5133 recommended. Synthesis, structure, characterization, and reactivity of organometallic compounds; introduction to catalysis and bioorganometallic chemistry. Three lecture hours each week. (On demand)
CHEM 6135. Advanced Organic Chemistry. (3) Prerequisite: CHEM 5133 and either 5134 or 5135 with a grade of B or better, or consent of the instructor. A qualitative discussion of modern mechanistic interpretation of the relations between structure and reactivity. Special emphasis is placed on the role of reactive intermediates such as carbonium ions, carbanions, carbines and radicals. (On demand)
CHEM 6138. Stereochemistry. (3) Prerequisite: Advanced course in Biochemistry or Organic Chemistry. Three-dimensional chemistry and its chemical, physical and biochemical consequences, emphasizing classification of isomers and stereoisomers and the consequences of molecular shape on chemical and biological properties. (Spring) (Alternate years)
CHEM 6145. Chemical Thermodynamics. (3) Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor. The postulatory basis of classical thermodynamics. Problems in chemical thermodynamics. The use of statistical mechanics for calculating thermodynamic functions. (On demand)
CHEM 6146. Rates and Mechanisms. (3) Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor. Consideration of chemical kinetics and mechanism schemes, particularly those of current interest. (On demand)
CHEM 6147. Molecular Photochemistry & Photophysics. (3) Prerequisite: Admission to graduate program or consent of instructor. An investigation of the excited states of organic molecules and the photophysics governing radiative and nonradiative transitions. Topics include electronic orbitals, absorption, emission, potential energy surfaces, energy transfer, photophysical radiationless transitions, singlet oxygen and chemiluminescent organic reactions. Three lecture hours per week. (Alternate years)
CHEM 6150. Seminar-Internship. (1-3) Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor. Required for all teaching assistants. Supervised experience in the teaching of college chemistry. Graded Pass/No Credit. May be repeated for credit. (Fall, Spring)
CHEM 6155. Polymer Synthesis. (3) Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor. Polymer structure, classification of polymerization reactions, theory and practice of step growth polymerization, radical, ionic and ring opening polymerizations, polymerization by transition metal catalysts. Recent advances in polymer synthesis. Three lecture hours per week. (On demand)
CHEM 6165. Advanced Biochemistry. (3) Prerequisites: CHEM 6101, BIOL 6102, 6103, 6104, or consent of instructor. Advanced course on protein structure, enzyme and mechanistic biochemistry, metabolic biochemistry, biophysical chemistry. Three lecture hours per week. (Spring)
CHEM 6681. Research Seminar. (1) Prerequisite: consent of the instructor. Individual investigation and exposition of the results. (Fall, Spring)
CHEM 6682. Research Seminar. (1) Prerequisite: consent of the instructor. Individual investigation and exposition of the results. May be repeated for credit. (Fall, Spring)
CHEM 6900. Research and Thesis. (1-16) Prerequisite: consent of the instructor overseeing thesis research. Laboratory research for the thesis. (Fall, Spring, Summer)
CHEM 7999. Graduate Residence. (1) Prerequisite: consent of the instructor overseeing thesis research. Required of all master's degree students who are working on a thesis but not enrolled in other graduate courses. (Fall, Spring)
CHEM 8069. Topics in Biochemistry. (3) Prerequisites: CHEM 6165, or consent of instructor. Discussion of current topics in biochemistry emphasizing their biomedical/biotechnological aspects from bioinorganic chemistry, bioorganic chemistry, bioanalytical chemistry, biophysical chemistry, biocomputational chemistry, biomaterials. May be repeated for credit. Three lecture hours per week. (Spring)
CHEM 8101. Biochemical Principles. (3) Prerequisites: Admission to Ph.D. program or consent of instructor. Molecular biophysics of biological molecules. Bioenergetics of biological reactions and enzyme structure, mechanisms, and regulation. Metabolic pathways and the role of cellular organelles. Biochemical analysis methodology. Twenty-three two-hour lectures. (Fall)
CHEM 8147. Molecular Photochemistry & Photophysics. (3) Prerequisite: Admission to graduate program or consent of instructor. An investigation of the excited states of organic molecules and the photophysics governing the transitions between these states both radiative and nonradiative. Topics include electronic orbitals, absorption, emission, potential energy surfaces, energy transfer, photophysical radiationless transitions, singlet oxygen and chemiluminescent organic reactions. In this course each student will develop and demonstrate a photochemistry laboratory experiment that illustrates a principle or problem, or new direction of photochemistry. Three lecture hours per week. (Alternate years)
CHEM 8155. Polymer Synthesis. (3) Prerequisite: Admission to Ph.D. program or consent of instructor. Polymer structure, classification of polymerization reactions, theory and practice of step growth polymerization, radical, ionic and ring opening polymerizations, polymerization by transition metal catalysts. Recent advances in polymer synthesis. The course will require a "Research Proposal". This will include a presentation in class as well as a ten page prospectus style manuscript. Three lecture hours per week. (On demand)
CHEM 8165. Advanced Biochemistry. (3) Prerequisites: CHEM 8101, BIOL 8102, 8103, 8104. Advanced course on protein structure, enzyme and mechanistic biochemistry, metabolic biochemistry, biophysical chemistry. Three lecture hours per week. (Spring)