Page 1 of 3 Biochem 471/Chem 471 - Fall 2010 MWF 10:10 AM, 103 LGRT Instructor: Lynmarie Thompson, LGRT 403E Office hours: 1:30-3:00 M & W or by appt. Phone: 545-0827 E-mail: [email protected] TA: Nick Borotto, GSMN 264 Office hours: 10:30-12:00 T & 3:30-5 Th Phone: 545-0770 Email: [email protected] Course Website URL: http://people.chem.umass.edu/thompson/Courses/chem471/ TEXTBOOK: David Gross, Physical Chemistry: Applications in the Life Sciences (electronic text available free via the OWL system) OPTIONAL SUPPLEMENTARY TEXT: Tinoco, Sauer, Wang & Puglisi, PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences (4th Ed., Prentice Hall) will be available on reserve at the DuBois library. Goals and Expectations. Chemistry/Biochemistry 471 is a one semester course that surveys fundamental aspects in all areas of physical chemistry with application to the biochemical sciences. The material in the course will cover four broad areas: 1. Thermodynamics (examining the macroscopic properties of chemical systems at equilibrium) 2. Statistical thermodynamics (serving to connect molecular properties to macroscopic observables) 3. Kinetics (the study of chemical reaction rates) 4. Quantum mechanics and spectroscopy (the quantized nature of matter; useful techniques) The study of physical chemistry is an essential part of modern day biology, which will benefit any of the career paths that you may be pursuing (medicine, research, industry, graduate school, teaching, or something completely different). Recent rapid advances in biology, marked by the completed genome sequences of many organisms and the large-scale initiatives in structural genomics illustrate current efforts to find a ‘complete’ molecule-based description of life. Physical chemistry, with its fundamental explanations of all chemical processes, is essential to understanding biological processes. The goal of this course is for students to understand concepts of physical chemistry and how to apply these concepts to real world problems, especially in biochemistry. Both qualitative and quantitative understanding is important, to enable you to interpret observations and to solve problems. Both theoretical underpinnings (derivations -- needed so you know when a formula applies!) and practical problem-solving will be emphasized. To perform well in this course, you will need to: 1. be familiar with the structural and chemical properties of biological molecules: proteins, nucleic acids and their building blocks, i.e. have a background knowledge of biochemistry. 2. have a working knowledge of algebraic methods, single variable calculus, integration, differentiation, and the properties of exponential and logarithmic functions. 3. be conversant with basic physics, which includes a knowledge of the units of mass, distance, time and temperature along with the relationship of these units to physical variables such as energy, force and velocity.Page 2 of 3 During this course you are expected to: 1. attend class, participate in class discussion, be attentive, ask questions. 2. read the textbook (preferably before class), and ask questions about the reading assignments. 3. complete OWL homework problems, ebook example problems, and exams. Grading COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Points Total Points Examples in the eBook 5 5 OWL self-paced homework 25 25 Half Exams (6 total, 1 dropped) 10 (ea) 50 Final Exam (cumulative) 20 20 OWL. The OWL (Online Web-based Learning) homework system may be familiar to many of you. In this course there will be exercises posted at regular intervals as the semester progresses. It is strongly recommended that you complete these exercises by the posted due dates: this will earn you full credit and enable you to keep up with the material being covered in lecture and on the exams. Completing the OWL exercises after the posted deadlines will still help you learn the material and will earn you 80% credit, for all completed by the final due date: December 12 at midnight. The exercises will be graded based on the number of correct assignments over the whole semester. You may work the exercises multiple times. The graded OWL homework problems will count for a maximum of 25 total points. Textbook example problems. The electronic textbook will be available via login through the OWL system. A number of interactive example problems are included with the reading assignments. Two points will be given for completing half of the problems successfully, three points for completing ¾ of the problems, or five points for completing all of the problems successfully. The due date for all textbook example problems is December 12, midnight. Exams. About 6 in-class short (30 min.) exams are scheduled throughout the semester roughly every two weeks. The ½ exams, although not cumulative, will build on previous material. Your best 5 grades will be used to compute your course grade, that is, one of the 6 grades will be dropped. No make-ups are available for unexcused absences. The final exam will be cumulative. Exams and exam answers from 2004-2009 are on the course website. In 2004 and 2005 8 half-hour exams were given along with a cumulative final exam. In 2006-2009 hour exams were given. Questions on this year’s half-hour exams will be similar to those on the old exams. Excused & Unexcused Absences: Unexcused absences generate grades of zero for examinations missed. Excused absences require prior notification: 1. Excused absences for reasons of religious observance are allowed provided that you notify me of conflicting dates 1 week or more prior to the conflict. 2. Excused absences for medical and other personal emergencies must be verified in writing by a physican, or another appropriate contact person. Obviously, if you are in the emergency room and unable to notify me, prior notice will not be necessary.Page 3 of 3 Grade Policy. Course grades are determined by a curve where the grade average of the whole class will be no worse than a B- and grades approximately within a standard deviation of the average will be A- and C-, respectively. Academic Honesty: See the regulations on "Academic Honesty" in the Student Handbook, "Undergraduate Rights &