CHEM 230 – Chemical Separations
SYLLABUS
Instructor: Roy Dixon
Office: 446C
Lecture Meeting: Tuesday 5:30 – 8:00 pm (or 5:30 to 8:15 with 15 min break), Sequoia 316
Tentative Office Hours: Mon 12:00-1:00, Tues. 3:30-4:30, Thurs.4:00-5:00.
Phone Number: 278-6893 email: rdixon@csus.edu
Class Web Page: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/d/dixonr/C230/C230.htm.
Textbook: "Chromatography - Concepts and Contrasts", 2nd Edition by James M. Miller, John Wiley & Sons (2005) Hoboken, NJ.
Additional reading assignments will be given.
Course Description: Chemical Separations are used in the isolation and/or analysis of chemicals in a variety of media for solving numerous problems. This course will emphasize the theory and some basic applications of methods of separations. Types of separations covered will include simple one-step separations, chromatographic separations, and other advanced types of separation like electrophoresis. The course will include detailed theory of separations from partitioning across phases to understanding what affects separation performance in chromatography. Modern gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography, particularly for analysis of complex samples will be emphasized. A portion of the course will emphasize student directed learning/teaching.
Tentative Schedule (This may change somewhat):
Date Main Subject(s) Text Pages
Sept. 2 Introduction / simple separations 1-30; 387-398
Sept. 9 Liquid-liquid extractions 398-412
Sept. 16 Advanced extraction procedures
Sept. 23 Introduction to chromatography I 35-64
Sept. 23 Exam 1 (Extractions)
Sept. 30 Theory of chromatographic separations 64-91; 93-101
Oct. 7 Optimization; GC 109-115; 117-124; 141-147
Oct. 14 GC 148-176; 423-427
Oct. 14 Exam 2 (Chromatographic Theory)
Oct. 21 SFC, LC 124-134; 183-214
Oct. 28 LC 214-258
Nov. 4 Quantification 277-306
Nov. 4 Exam 3 (GC/SFC/LC)
Nov. 11 Holliday (Veteran’s Day)
Nov. 18 Mass Spectrometry 309-326
Nov. 25 MS/Electrophoretic Methods 365-383
Dec. 2 Student Presentations I
Dec. 2 Exam 4 (Quantification through Electrophersis)
Dec. 9 Student Presentations II
Dec. 15 Final Exam 5:15-7:15* (based on F’13 calendar – may change later)
Grading: Grades will be calculated based on the following criteria: 4 exams (48%), final exam (30%), presentation (8%), applications paper (6%), homework (8%).
Exams: There will be four exams of 40 min each (during the first 40 min. of class). There are no plans for make-up exams. Missed exams for legitimate reasons will result in the remaining exams still counting form 48% of the grade. The exams will cover both problem solving methodology and general knowledge of topics.
Final Exam: The final exam will be comprehensive covering all topics covered by the instructor with greater focus (about 35% of the points) on the special topics covered in student presentation.
Presentations: The core topics will be taught by the instructor. Students will be sign up to research and present more specialized separation topics for the last 2 class meetings. There will be a list of topics to choose from. There will be a couple of specialized separation topics covered by the instructor and a guest lecturer as examples. Students will work in pairs to research topics, come up with a set of readings for the class (e.g. journal review article), example problems, and a presentation describing the topic. Some time will be reserved for asking questions and for general discussion of these topics. More specific information is provided on the presentation handout.
Applications Paper: An important part to separations is in its applications to chemical or related scientific problems. You will be asked to research a specific research problem of your own choice (e.g. determination of phenols in wine) in which recent chromatographic improvements are made. You will write a brief report (4 to 5 pages + figures and references) indicating why the improvements are useful and providing specific information requested by the instructor. This is meant to be broader in scope than a homework assignment but less involved than a term paper.
Homework: There will be two types of homework problems. One type will be for your benefit for practicing for exams. These problems will be neither collected nor graded. The second type will be collected and graded. The ones to be collected and graded may be more involved or on topics covered sooner. Students are welcome to work together on non-collected problems, but the collected problems should represent their independent work.
Assignment of grades: The break-down of grades will depend on the class
average (in other words be curved), but a higher class average will result in
more high grades. The following grading scheme (excluding +’s and –‘s) can be
considered "typical":
A 90 – 100%
B 79 – 90%
C 67 – 79%
D 56 – 67%
Policy on cheating: Cheating will not be tolerated. This includes copying the work of your classmates, using notes during exams (unless allowed), falsifying data, and plagiarizing others’ work. At a minimum, cheating will result in a zero grade for that work. Become familiar with CSUS cheating policies that can be found at: http://www.csus.edu/admbus/umanual/UMA00150.htm.
Special Needs: If you have any special needs regarding the class, or if a legitimate situation comes up during the semester that might interfere with the class, please let me know as soon as possible, and I will do my best to accommodate the situation.