27542 - Analytical Chemistry 1

Academic Year 2018/2019

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Chemistry and Materials Chemistry (cod. 8006)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student knows the principles of an analytical sequence; the main sampling techniques and sample treatments for solids, liquids, and gases; as well as the main analytical methods, i.e. gravimetry, acid-base titrations, spectrophotometry, and chromatography.

Course contents

Prerequisite:
No previous knowledge is required, except math and fundamentals of chemistry. Foreign students should master Italian (writing, speaking and listening) at a C1 level.
Program:
a) In-class exercises (24 hours - 2 Credits).
Students apply basic concepts (mole, equivalent, concentration, and dilution) to solve problems of analytical chemistry. Students are also requested to do some homework with subsequent correction during the class.

b) Lectures (24 hours - 3 Credits).
Definition of analytical chemistry. Outline of an analytical process. Fundamentals of statistics: average, standard deviation, correlation coefficient, significant figures. Methods for quantitative analysis: calibration line, internal standard, standard additions, internal normalization. Classical analytical methods. Sampling: water, air, soil. Sample preservation. In-situ analysis probes . On-site/on-line analysis of air and water. Sample preparation: milling, drying, filtering, concentrating. Use of an analytical scale. Weighing and related errors. Sample digestion (wet, microwaves, Kjeldahl). Solid-liquid extraction. Vapour current extraction. Soxhlet extraction. Accelerated solvent extraction. Ultrasound assisted extraction. Extraction with supercritical fluids. Percolation. Liquid-liquid extraction (theory, pH effect, use of chelating ligands, continuous extractors using solvents more/less dense than water, Lickens-Nickerson extractor).

Chemical Equilibrium. Systematic treatment of Equilibrium. Acid-base equilibria. Phase partition Equilibrium: application to partition chromatography. Fundamentals of chromatographic techniques (adsorption, partition, ion-exchange, affinity, size-exclusion) and detectors. Fundamentals of UV-visible spectroscopy: theory, transmittance, absorbance, Lambert-Beer equation. Lambert-Beer equation limits. Spectrophotometer scheme.

c) Laboratory experiments (16 hours - 1 Credit).
Students apply to experimental work some of the lecture subjects and stoichiometric exercises. He/she gets used to staying in a laboratory and manipulate basic chemical labware. At the end of each experiment, students write a report.


Readings/Bibliography

Daniel C. Harris, QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS, 9th Ed., W.H. Freeman and Co., NY, 2016.

I. Bertini, C. Luchinat, F. Mani STECHIOMETRIA. UN AVVIO ALLO STUDIO DELLA CHIMICA, V Ed., Casa Editrice Ambrosiana (distribuzione esclusiva Zanichelli), 2009.

R. Cozzi, P. Protti, T. Ruaro, ELEMENTI DI ANALISI CHIMICA STRUMENTALE, II Ed., Zanichelli, 2013.

APAT, Manuale per le Indagini Ambientali nei Siti Contaminati, APAT Manuali e Linee Guida 43, 2006 (disponibile in rete).


Teaching methods

The course comprises in-class excercises (24 hours), lectures (24 hours) and laboratory experiments (16 hours). The excercises consist of stoichiometric calculations. During the lectures, the principles of an analytical sequence will be explained. In the laboratory classes, the students will apply some of the analytical techniques and stoichiometric calculations which have learned during the lectures. Practice on stoichiometry takes place at the beginning of the course; lectures take place in the second part of the course; laboratory takes place in May.


Assessment methods

Admission to final exam and/or to intermediate tests.

Lecture, practice and laboratory attendance is mandatory. In order to be admitted to final exam or intermediate tests, students must:

a. have attended 43 out of 48 in-class hours;

b. have attended all laboratory experiments;

c. have handed over all the experimental reports within the set deadline (normally two days after the experience unless longer terms to be set in due time).

Exceptions will be granted for medical reasons upon medical certification.

Intermediate written tests.

Two written tests are scheduled during the course for the students who attend the activities. Students are encouraged to take part to the tests. Passed tests mean passed exam and the final score is recorded.

The first test is set at the end of the in-class excercises. It is made of (A) stoichiometry exercises, each of which is scored to a total maximum of 33/30. Exercises can be evaluated with full or partial score, depending on the exactness of the final result and the procedure.

The second test takes place at the end of the course and deals with open questions about (B) lecture subjects and (C) lab experiments. Each section is evaluated with a maximum score of 30/30. Students who failed the first test solve some stoichiometry exercises in addition to the second test, according to the principle that stoichiometry is mandatory to go on with the test.

Regular exams.

In regular exams, students must undergo (A) a written stoichiometry test made of (A) stoichiometry exercises, each of which is scored to a total maximum of 33/30. Exercises can be evaluated with full or partial score, depending on the exactness of the final result and the procedure. If the student pass with at least 18/30 the stoichiometry test, he/she is subjected to an oral examination about (B) the lecture subjects and (C) the lab experiments (maximum score 30/30, each), if appropriated discussing the experimental reports, copies of each the student must carry with him/her.

Final score.

Scores obtained in each test or exam section (A, B, C) are weighed by the credits of each section and averaged; if the result is pass (18/30 minimum) a score ranging from zero to 1 for the experimental report is added. Formula: final score={[(scoreAx2)+(scoreBx3)+(scoreCx1)]/6}+report score. Honors are given when the final score is at least 31,5/30.

Students are failed when one of the following circumstances occur: (i) part (A) (stoichiometry) fails; (ii) the average of part (B) and (C) fails; (iii) at the end or anytime during the oral examination their knowledge of the subjects is judged insufficient and/or one or more answer on fundamental topics are wrong.

Test results AA 2017-2018.

Students admitted to the final test:             98.

Students participants to the final test:         97.

Students with 30 and 30 cum laude score:  35.

Failed:                                                          18.

 

 

Teaching tools

Blackboard; power-point and other similar softwares; instruments which can be studied and/or used in laboratory.

Teaching materials published on Insegnamenti On-Line (IOL) web site.


Office hours

See the website of Guido Galletti