MOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY

The course is among the core educational activities of Master's Degree Programme in Sustainable Chemistry and Technologies. The aim of this Master's Degree is to provide an in-depth scientific knowledge and solid understanding of advance aspects, thus allowing the Master’s graduates to rationalize chemical processes and to elaborate and apply original ideas, whether in a context of research or of an applicative/industrial environment.
Within this framework, the course will provide a deep and solid understanding of both the theoretical and the specialist concepts of several spectroscopic techniques (both optical and magnetic ones) belonging to different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum also providing a detailed discussion on some of their modern applications in the fields of chemistry, biochemistry and biology.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
The course provides a solid knowledge of both optical and magnetic spectroscopies. At the end the student should have a solid knowledge and deep understanding of the correct spectroscopic formalism to be used, and of the theoretical concepts of both advanced optical and magnetic spectroscopies, and some of their modern applications (dynamics of chemical processes, studies on atmospheric pollutants in real-time, investigations on surfaces and interphases, adsorption processes, structural determinations and analysis of processes also for biochemical and biological applications).
ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
At the end the student should be able to apply the correct formalism for analysing the different spectroscopic phenomena (and their corresponding data in their spectral range). In details, the students:
- will be able to apply physical and quantum-chemical concepts to describe the spectroscopic experiment, to analyse the corresponding outcome, and to optimize the experimental parameters.
- will be able to discuss the corresponding spectroscopic techniques and interdisciplinary applications (using all the theoretical concepts treated during the course) for investigating chemical processes, atmospheric pollutants (in real-time), surfaces and interphases, adsorption processes, structural determinations and analysis of processes also for biochemical and biological applications.
MAKING JUDGEMENTS
At the end the students should be able also to judge and compare the performances, the issues and the applicability of the different spectroscopic techniques in view of the problems to be solved and/or the researches to be carried out.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
At the end the students should be able to communicate the knowledge learned, and to describe the results obtained from the application of a spectroscopic technique, with appropriate language, to specialists and non-specialists interlocutors.

The students should know (and be able to apply) the basic concepts of calculus (vectors, differential and integral calculus of more than one variable functions), physics (classical electromagnetism), physical chemistry, and spectroscopy (IR spectroscopy and 1H-NMR spectroscopy, and the interpretation of their corresponding spectra) typical of the three-year degree courses in Chemistry .
Besides, the students should know (and be able to apply) the basic concepts of quantum chemistry (to have attained the educational objectives of the corresponding course, possibly but not necessarily having passed the corresponding exam).

BASIC CONCEPTS OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
Eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. Energetic levels and transitions. Energy diagrams. Boltzmann statistics. Induced absorption, induced and spontaneous emission, and their corresponding Einstein coefficients. Electric and magnetic transition moments. General and specific selection rules. Classification of spectroscopies: optical and magnetic.
INFRARED AND RAMAN SPECTROSCOPIES
Infrared (IR) spectroscopy: harmonic treatment, normal modes. Discussion of some relevant experimental techniques and their application for solving chemical problems, analysis on atmospheric pollutants, and for the studies of surfaces and adsorption processes, orientational analysis of interfacial molecular groups: Cavity RingDown Spectroscopy (CRDS), Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) IR spectroscopy, Surface Enhanced InfraRed Absorption Spectroscopy (SEIRAS), Reflection-Absorption IR Spectroscopy (RAIRS), and Diffuse Reflectance IR Spectroscopy (DRIFT). Basic concepts on Raman spectroscopy, principles and applications. SERS and TERS Techniques. Examples of applications and exercises on the different topics.
MAGNETIC SPECTROSCOPIES (NMR)
The nuclear spin and its properties. Bloch phenomenological equations and their solutions in both the laboratory (fixed) axes and the rotating axes. Relaxation processes: spin-lattice and spin-spin mechanisms. Pulses (Hard and Soft) in modern FT-NMR spectroscopy. Experimental measurements of spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation processes. Description of a general bi-dimensional experiment. Correlation SpectroscopY. Description of the Double Quantum Filtered COSY (DQF-COSY) experiment. Description of HSQC/HMQC, HMBC, DEPT, PGSE, LED/BPLED, DOSY-COSY, MAD, SCALPEL, and PSYCHE. Examples of applications and exercises on NMR techniques and experiments.

Mainly lecture notes and the slides (made by the teacher) available in the Moodle space.
For the optical spectroscopies, the textbook mainly used in the course is
J. M. Hollas, “Modern Spectroscopy”, 4th edition, Wiley, 2003.
For the magnetic spectroscopies, the textbook mainly used in the course is
N. E. Jacobsen “NMR SPECTROSCOPY EXPLAINED: Simplified Theory, Applications and Examples for Organic Chemistry and Structural Biology”, John Wiley & Sons, 2007.

Oral examination (about 30’).
In particular, the oral exam consists in a series of open questions, in which the theoretical aspects of the spectroscopic techniques and their application to solve chemical (or biochemical or biological) problems will be discussed, followed by a short presentation (by slides in PPT or PDF format, 8 minutes max), describing an application of spectroscopy for solving a chemical (or biochemical or biological) problem and/or a research to be carried out.
During the open questions, the student will have to expose the various topics in a formally and scientifically correct language, demonstrating at the same time that he/she understood the link between the different theoretical aspects treated, and their correlation with the spectroscopic techniques, and that he/she is able to judge and compare the performances, the issues and the applicability of the different spectroscopic techniques in view of the problem to be solved and/or the researches to be carried out.
By means of the presentation, describing an application of spectroscopy for solving a chemical (or biochemical or biological) problem and/or a research to be carried out, the student will demonstrate that he/she is able to communicate the knowledge learned, and to describe the results obtained from the application of a spectroscopic technique, with appropriate language.
The final score is expressed in thirtieths, and is the sum of the score acquired with the answers to the open questions, and the one acquired with the presentation; the assessment of the presentation involves the acquisition of a score from 0 to 6 points.

Classroom lectures (both traditional whiteboard and PPT or PDF slides will be used) coupled to the use of some dedicated software packages, and problems/exercises; besides, scientific articles, will be used during the lectures.
Classroom lectures will be interactive and will include also several exercises and problems which will be solved by the students also using the dedicated software packages previously discussed; during these activities the students will be followed and guided by the teacher to the understanding and correct interpretation of the assigned exercises and problems. The students will have to illustrate and discuss their solutions before the classmates and the teacher; questions from the teacher and the classmates will follow these presentations to verify that the students are able to link them with the general context of the course.
After each lecture, the slides employed (and the corresponding supplementary material together with examples about how to describe the spectroscopic data) will be downloadable from the MOODLE web pages.

Italian

Accessibility, Disability and Inclusion

Accommodation and support services for students with disabilities and students with specific learning impairments:
Ca’ Foscari abides by Italian Law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) regarding support services and accommodation available to students with disabilities. This includes students with mobility, visual, hearing and other disabilities (Law 17/1999), and specific learning impairments (Law 170/2010). In the case of disability or impairment that requires accommodations (i.e., alternate testing, readers, note takers or interpreters) please contact the Disability and Accessibility Offices in Student Services: disabilita@unive.it.

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