Course Syllabus

Course Information
Course Title Modern Techniques in Chemistry
Course Number CHEM 4530 (sections 1 &2)
Credit Hours 4 credits
Semester / Year Summer / 2021
Lecture Meeting Days M/Th 8 – 9:35 am
Room Location TBA
Section 1: M/Th 12 – 2:50 pm Walker 3109/3214
Lab Location Section 2: M/Th 3 – 5:50 pm Walker 3109/3214

RPILMS course website URL http://rpinfo.rpi.edu/coursewebsites.html

Undergraduate general chemistry and organic
Prerequisites or Other Requirements
chemistry or equivalent courses

Lecture and Laboratory Instructor

Elizabeth Sprague, Ph.D.
Full Name / Title
Department of Chemistry &Chemical Biology
Office location Walker 6101
Office Telephone Number (518) 276-2115
Office Hours TBA
[email protected]
Email Address
[email protected]
Class coverage Lecture and Laboratory Sessions

Teaching Assistants: (Office Hours and Location TBA)

TBA

Course Goal: Modern Techniques in Experimental Chemistry is an advanced lecture

and laboratory course in chemistry covering selective topics in the following disciplines:
Organic, Inorganic, Physical, and Analytical. Its purpose is to introduce upper lever
chemical engineering students to representative laboratory exercises and associated
lecture material or those chemistry disciplines listed above. The contents of the lecture
and laboratory activities are based on typical chemical applications found in industry,
e.g., material synthesis, analysis, physical characterization, and process control.

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Expected Student Outcomes:

1. Students will learn the importance to place emphasis on the experiment set-up,
including pre-laboratory activities, note taking, data analysis and reporting of results.
Students learn the correct way to write professional laboratory reports. This outcome is
valuable for future laboratory work in industry as well publishing professional scientific
or technical papers.

2. Students will learn the integration of skills, techniques and chemistry disciplines. The
attempt here is to present those types of problems that will be met in industry or graduate
school leading to greater flexibility for the students. Error measurements and discussions
on them are heavily emphasized.

3. Students will learn the proper use of basic and advanced glassware and equipment
such as distillation columns and viscometers. Three types of titration methodologies will
be introduced – acid/base, complexiometric and electrochemical. Separation methods,
such as distillations and gas chromatography are included. Spectroscopy methods will be
used throughout; these include Atomic Absorption, Ultraviolet/Visible, Infrared and
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. A solution calorimeter will be used for studying the
thermodynamics of solutions. Students will show competence with advanced chemical
laboratory techniques including mass measurements, volume measurements, solution
preparation, dilution, titration, advanced instrumentation methods and separation and
synthesis methods.

4. Students will be able to communicate ideas and questions about chemistry in an

effective and intelligent way to professional chemists.

5. Students will show competence at the handling and processing of laboratory

(experimental) data. Students will be able to search for answers about chemistry or
chemical systems in the chemical literature.

Text: Exploring Chemical Analysis, Daniel C. Harris, 5th Edition, W.H. Freeman and
Company, New York, 2013.
This may only be available as an e-book.

Required Supplementary Materials:

Safety goggles and a bound laboratory notebook with carbon copy duplicate pages
Suggested Supplementary Materials: Laboratory coat or apron

Academic Integrity:
The relationship between students and faculty is based upon trust and the continued
maintenance of this trust is necessary for education to be successful. Students need to
trust faculty to make appropriate judgments about the content and structure of the course.
Faculty members need to trust that the work turned in by students represents their own
effort. Violation of this trust undermines the educational process. In addition, as
professionals, you may be designing products upon which lives depend, as a result, there

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is no tolerance for breach of academic integrity such as cheating, plagiarizing, or
inappropriate sharing of laboratories, data or related materials (past or present).

Students found to use any form of Academic Dishonesty will receive an F in the
course.

The Rensselaer Student Handbook and the Dean of Students Office Webpage
(http://doso.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=676) defines various forms of academic
dishonesty. Please familiarize yourself with these and ask us if you have questions about
what constitutes academic dishonesty.

COVID-19 Related Policies:

Masks: Masks will be worn by all students and faculty in all classrooms/labs, as well as
in Institute buildings. Students who violate this policy by not wearing masks will be
reported to the Dean of Students and will be requested to leave a classroom and return to
their living quarters. The Dean of Students will provide the appropriate sanctions for the
students per the code of conduct signed by the students.

Traffic Flow and Social Distancing: Students and faculty will respect the need for
social distancing to the degree possible by the setting. Faculty and students will move in
and out of classrooms as per the appropriate instructions of the faculty/administration.
They are expected to follow printed traffic flow statements/signs posted in rooms and
buildings.

In-Class Seating: Faculty are asked to assure that students sit in the appropriate
designated seating in the classroom, using social distancing. Students are not allowed to
move furniture or sit in seats not designated by the Institute.

In Lab Protocols: Students are required to wear chemical splash goggles, mask and
gloves throughout the lab period. Social distancing rules will be in enforced. Students
are expected to clean areas where they will work and all surfaces they were in contact
with at the end of the lab period.

Cleaning of Spaces: Students are encouraged to clean the surfaces of the

chairs/tables/desks they occupy before they sit down and as they prepare to leave. Faculty
should advise students to clean personal items with wipes or cloths before and after class.

Student Health: Students who are ill, under quarantine for COVID-19, or suspect they
are ill will report that to Student Life. Student Life will verify and notify all faculty who
have that student. Once notification is made, all faculty will make every reasonable effort
to accommodate the student’s absence and will communicate that accommodation
directly to the student. Failure to make an appropriate accommodation for a verified or
reasonably suspected case of illness may be appealable under the student grade appeal
process. Students who need to report an illness should contact the Student Health
Center via email or call 518-276-6287.

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Refusal: Refusal to comply with any appropriate request will be treated as would any
classroom disruption and disciplinary actions, and sanctions will be taken through the
judicial process outlined in the Student Handbook (request to change the behavior;
request to leave the class; dismissal of the class and referral to Student Life and the Dean
of Students.).

Lectures: Monday and Thursday you will have 1 hour 35 minute lectures. The material
presented in the lecture will cover and expand on the material in the required weekly
reading and related experiments. Excused absences from lecture should be cleared with
the course instructor. Each student is allowed two unexcused lecture absences – more
than two unexcused lecture absences will result in a deduction of points from your
participation grade.

Exam Period: There will be 3 exams. Exams may include material covered in lecture,
reading, assigned problems, or laboratory. No makeup exams will be given. If a student
misses an exam for an unavoidable and compelling reason, the student may be excused
from the exam at the instructor’s discretion provided that the student presents a suitable
written excuse. The written excuse is required from the Student Experience Office, a
physician, or an athletic coach.

Reading Assignments and Review Problems: There will be reading assignments

associated with each topic. It is very important for you to read the assignment before
coming to class. End of chapter problems will be assigned for associated material we
cover throughout the semester. The assigned problems will not be graded. The problems
should be used as a study aid for exams.

Topics Relevant Chapter(s) of Harris’s Text

Introduction Chapters 0 – 2
Error Analysis Chapter 3
Statistics Chapter 4
Titration: Intro Chapter 6
Intro to Acids/Bases Chapter 8
Buffers Chapter 9
Acid – Bases & Polyprotic Acids Chapters 10 & 11
EDTA Titrations Chapter 13
Electrode Potentials Chapter 14
Atomic Spectroscopy Chapter 20
Chromatography & Mass Spec. Chapter 21
Gas & Liquid Chromatography Chapter 22
Chromatographic Methods Chapter 23
Special topics: Rheology, Kinetics, etc… Separate Hand Outs

If time permits: Special topics such as Sustainable Technology, Raman

Spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, confocal microscopy etc… will be
presented.

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Laboratory Sessions: Attendance is Mandatory. Chemistry is an experimental
science. Two laboratory periods each week are for the laboratory experience and are
subject to the laboratory schedule (consult schedule for details). Experimental data is not
to be shared – the data you record for your experiment is the data you work with for your
laboratory report. A laboratory notebook must be kept, pre-labs are due the day of your
lab, and the summary report is due one week after the experiment is complete (unless
announced otherwise). Attendance in laboratory is mandatory to receive credit for the
entire laboratory report. All excused laboratory absences must be cleared through Dr.
Sprague.

Formal Written Report: Required experimental and written component of

the course and laboratory grade. Failure to complete the experiment or the
written formal report will result in an F for the course.

Internet Site: The syllabus, experiment descriptions, lecture notes, supplemental

material and notices will be posted on the RPI LMS Blackboard site.

Final Grades: The final grade for the course will be determined as follows:
Course Component______ Total Points (100%)
Class Participation 10 %
Exams (3) 30 % (Each exam: 10%)
Laboratory Grade 60%

Grade Assignments: These grade assignments are subject to change at the instructors
discretion, but will only change in a positive manner (for example, the D range could
extend below 60 but will not shrink above 60).

100-94%: A; 93-90% A-; 89-87%: B+; 86-84%: B; 83 –80% B-; 79-77%: C+; 76-74%:
C; 73-70% C-; 69-67%: D+; 66-60%: D; <60%: F

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CHEM-4530 Tentative Schedule (Subject to Change) Summer 2021

1 (week of 5/24) Introduction, Statistics and “Experimentation Fundamentals”

experiment
2 (week of 5/31)* Acid/Base Equilibria and “Equilibrium Constants of a Diprotic
Acid” experiment.
3 (week of 6/7) Acid/Base Equilibria (continued)
4 (week of 6/14) EDTA Titrations and “Metal – Ion Extraction” experiment;
Exam 1
5 (week of 6/21) EDTA (continued); Rheology / Viscosity and “Preparation of a
Biodiesel” experiment
6 (week of 6/28) Viscosity and “Biodiesel” (continued); Chromatography
(week of 7/5)* Summer Break
7 (week of 7/12) Chromatography and “Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium” experiment
8 (week of 7/19) Chromatography (continued); Exam 2
9 (week of 7/26) Electrochemistry
10 (week of 8/2) Electrode Potentials and “Thermodynamics of Metal Ion
Complexing” experiment
11 (week of 8/9) Epoxy Resin Experiment; Kinetics
12 (week of 8/16) “Kinetics of Hydrolysis of t-Butyl Chloride”; Exam 3

*Notice:
5/31 (Mon) No Classes (Memorial Day)
6/2 (Wed.) Follows a Monday class schedule
7/5 – 7/9 (Mon. – Fri.) No classes – summer break