BIOPHYSICAL CHEMISTRY II LABORATORY (CHEM 361L)

Spring 2009

Experiments performed in this laboratory course are intended to complement the material presented in Biophysical Chemistry II. Spectroscopic methods, intermolecular interactions, and the kinetics of chemical reactions will be covered.

The course grade will be a composite of report grades (80%) and laboratory technique. Attendance at all sessions is required. Laboratory reports for each experiment will be turned in the week after the experiment is completed. A penalty of one letter grade per week (or part thereof) will be assessed on late reports. No lab reports will be accepted after May 18.

The report must include an Introduction (a brief statement of experimental goals, in your own words), Experimental section (describing the methods used), Results section (data and calculations), and Discussion section (conclusions based on the results obtained).

One of the goals of this course is to introduce the student to the laboratory use of spreadsheet software. The departmental computers have a number of these (Excel is an example), as do many of the university PC's. If you are unfamiliar with these, seek help from the lab instructor or the course supervisor (Dr. Baumann). This syllabus and all lab handouts may be found on Dr. Baumann's home page (http://academic.scranton.edu/faculty/cab302).

Academic honesty:

The first time that a student is caught plagiarizing or using fabricated data in a report, he or she will receive a grade of zero points for that assignment. For further consequences of violating academic ethics please refer to the University of Scranton Academic Code of Honesty: http://matrix.scranton.edu/student_handbook/policy_academic_code_honesty.html .

Date of Experiment	EXPERIMENT	Report Due
February 2	Iodine Clock	February 9
February 9	Effect of pH on Reaction Rate	February 16
February 16	Bromination of Acetone	February 23
February 23	Kinetic Isotope Effect	March 2
March 2	Adsorption from solution	March 9
March 9	Assignment of an IR Spectrum	March 23
March 23	Measurement of Substituent Effects by IR Spectroscopy	March 30
March 30	Computational Chemistry	April 6
April 6	Hydrogen Bonding: NMR	April 20
April 20	Hydrogen Bonding: IR	April 27
April 27	Hydrogen Bonding: UV Visible	May 4
May 4	Hydrogen Bonding: Fluorescence	May 11
May 11	Checkout

Format for Laboratory Reports

The laboratory report for an experiment in this course must minimally contain the following:

1. Introduction:

A brief statement of the purpose of the experiment and the theory behind the experimental procedure.

2. Experimental:

A description of the experimental procedure, referenced whenever possible to the textbook or accompanying materials. Deviations from the reference procedures should be noted in this section.

3. Results:

Data should be presented in tabular and/or graphical form in this section. The use of spreadsheet software (such as Excel) will make this section much easier to complete. Explanations of calculations, including sample calculations, should be included, as should statistical computations and sample spectra.

4. Discussion:

A brief analysis of the results of the experiment, sources of error, and suggestions for improvement of the procedure. Comparison of experimentally obtained quantities with literature values should be made whenever possible.

5. References:

A list of all sources used in the laboratory report.

6. Appendix:

Carbon copies of notebook pages, computer output, and spectra should be included in this section.