UV-Vis spectroscopy: Beer-Lambert’s Law, types of transitions, factors affecting the position and intensity of bands, calculation of absorption maxima by Woodward-Fieser Rules.

IR spectroscopy: Different modes of vibrations, types of bands and their combination, vibrational coupling, factors affecting vibrational frequency, characteristic frequencies of various functional groups.

NMR spectroscopy: Basic theory, magnetic properties of atomic nuclei, Larmor/Bloch equation, relaxation phenomena, Boltzmann equilibrium, instrumentation, chemical shift, factors affecting chemical shift, spin-spin coupling, factors affecting coupling, Karplus equation, first order and complex spectra, simplification of complex spectra: spin decoupling, Lanthanide shift reagents. Heteronuclear coupling, DEPT. Through space effects, NOE. Dynamic NMR: exchange phenomena. 2D-NMR: homonuclear and heteronuclear correlation. Solid state NMR.

Mass Spectrometry: Principle and instrumentation, different modes of ionization and fragmentation, factors affecting fragmentation, types of ion analysis, analysis of selected compounds. Hyphenation techniques.

Chiroptical methods: optical rotatory dispersion (ORD), circular dichroism (CD), related empirical and semi-empirical rules for determining the chirality of the organic molecules.

Metal carbonyls and other complexes with  p-acceptor ligands. Metal to metal bonds and metal atom clusters. Transition metal complexes with bonds to hydrogen, alkyls, alkenes and other related compounds. The role of insertion, oxidative addition, reductive elimination, associative dissociative reaction in catalysis. The use of organotransition metal complexes for conversion of unsaturated and related compounds. Hydrogenation (monohydride, dihydride catalysts, stereoselective hydrogenation), carbonylation (Monsanto acetic acid Process, hydroformylation, hydrocarboxylation, hydrocyanation), transition metal carbenes (olefin metathesis, carbonyl olefination, Fischer carbenes, Schrock carbenes, catalytic cyclopropanation). Metallocene complexes, organo-phosphine complexes, Complexes with MC triple bonds: carbynes.  Application of organometallic complexes in stereo- and regio-selective reactions, alkene polymerization reactions.

Heterocyclics and their importance. Nomenclature, structure, reactivity and synthesis of reduced 3-6 membered O, N and S-containing heterocycles. Aromatic heterocycles, heterocycles containing multiple heteroatoms, modern methods of heterocycle synthesis using organometallic reagents, e.g. C-H activation, olefin metathesis, click chemistry etc. Synthesis of selected heterocylic natural products.

Classification, structure, chemistry and biogenesis of some important mono, sesqui-, di- and triterpenoids.  Sterols and bile acids, estrogens, androgens, gestogens and adrenocortical hormones. Hormone production. Cardiac glycosides. Steroidal triterpenes. Biogenesis of steroids and correlation with terpenoids. Structure, characteristic reactions and general methods of degradation of alkaloids. Total synthesis of selected alkaloids. Natural Pigments such as flavones, flavanones, isoflavones, xanthones, quinones, pterins, chlorophyll and haemin. Structure and stereochemistry of carbohydrates, deoxy and aminosugars, hexonic acid and vitamin C, disaccharides, polysaccharides, inositol. gangliosides and other glycosides. Chemistry of vitamins A,B, C and E.

Structure, properties and synthesis of aminoacids, peptides and proteins. Solid-phase peptide synthesis: native peptide ligation, cyclic peptides, amino acid analysis and peptide sequencing. Brief introduction to ribosomal protein synthesis, combinatorial chemistry, enzyme chemistry: proteases and phosphatases, proteins as drug targets.

Structure, configuration and conformation of carbohydrates. Common protecting groups and protecting group strategies. Glycosylation: general concepts, various methods of glycoside bond formation. Strategies in oligosaccharide synthesis: automated and enzymatic approaches. Glycoconjugates: glycolipids and glycoproteins. Fundamentals of glycobiology, tools for glycomics, carbohydrate based drug discovery. 

Structure of nucleosides, nucleotides and nucleic acids: chemical synthesis of nucleosides. Solution and solid phase synthesis of oligonucleotides. DNA Processing Enzymes: DNA polymerases, ligases, restriction endonucleases, PCR. Enzymatic synthesis of nucleic acids. Principle behind sequencing. Nucleic acid as drug targets. Quadruplex nucleic acids. Nucleic acids based enzymes: ribozymes, DNA enzymes and riboswitches. Nucleic acid based therapeutic strategies: antisense, RNA interference and aptamers,  DNA damage and repair.

Drug discovery an overview. Classification, nomenclature, production and mechanism of action of drugs, methods of drug development, patterns of healthcare, overview of pharmaceutical industry, drug targets, drug metabolism, prodrugs, pharmacokinetics and related topics, enzyme inhibition and inactivation, enzymes as drug targets, receptors as drug targets. Selected examples: NSAID, steroids, antibacterials, anticancer, antiulcer, drugs related to tropical diseases, antivirals, antihistamines.

Homogeneous electrocatalysis. Kinetic zone diagram, determination of rate constant and overpotential, Foot of the wave analysis.

Electrochemistry of adsorbed materials. Thin-film electrochemistry and its applications in protein film electrochemistry.

Probing catalytic reaction pathway via electrochemistry: ErCr, ErCi, ErCi’, CrEr, ErCiEr mechanisms and their examples.

Application of electrocatalysis: H2 production/oxidation including the effect of PCET, CO2 reduction, Lignin depolymerization, C-H bond activation.

Introduction to polymers: Classification, structure, conformation, PDI, molecular weight distribution. Synthesis: Cationic, anionic, radical, metal-catalyzed polymerization. Physical properties: Viscosity and intrinsic viscosity, Osmosis, Light scattering for Rg and Rh.  Ideal and real chain models, simple scaling ideas, end-to-end distances and Rg of ideal chains, excluded volume interactions, dilute, semi-dilute, concentrated regimes. polyelectrolytes, Manning condensation.

Proteins, DNA, RNA, Polysaccharides and other biopolymers, properties and differences from other polymers.

Recent trends: self-healing polymers, vitrimers, supramolecular polymers, block copolymers.

Inorganic polymers such as polyphosphazenes, polysiloxanes, and Polysilanes.

Statistical mechanical interpretation of the thermodynamic laws, Statistical view of entropy; Deducing 2nd and 3rd laws of thermodynamics from statistical considerations; Free energies, chemical potentials, partial molar quantities; Boltzmann distribution, partition functions and statistical mechanics of simple gases and solids; Chemical equilibrium and equilibrium constant in terms of partition functions; Qualitative correlations between reaction rate and equilibria. Structural effects on rate and equilibria in organic systems; substituents and solvent effects. The Hammett and Taft equations; conformational equilibria in acyclic compounds. Structural effects on rate and equilibria in inorganic systems: Linear free energy relationship in ligand substitution kinetics; physical kinetics; transition states; Elements of absolute rate theory, reaction dynamics, ions in solution; cooperativity.