Faculty of Science

Objectives

To present the physical concepts used in the interpretation of modern chemical knowledge. This course will meet the needs of students for whom a sound knowledge of physical chemistry and biochemistry is essential in the understanding of more advanced biochemical concepts. Thus, it will also cover bioenergetics.

Contents

The ideal gas equation; The laws of thermodynamics: The first law, enthalpy; The second law, entropy; The third law, free energy; Endergonic and Exergonic processes; Chemical equilibrium: heterogeneous and homogenous systems; Electrochemical cells: Types of cells; oxidations and reductions in biological systems. Principles of chemical kinetics: the rate equation and reaction orders; complex reactions and their rate expressions, with a brief introduction to enzyme catalysed reactions.

Bioenergetics: Mechanisms of generation and dissipation of energy within the cell. Oxidative phosphorylation, the chemio-osmotic theory, photosynthetic phosphorylation, transport across biological membranes. Quantitative approaches will be emphasized. Practical work involving the study of mitochondria and determination of enthalpies and activation energies, especially of enzyme catalyzed reactions would be carried out.

Outcomes:

Knowledge of physical chemistry, mathematics and physics as such knowledge relate to the functioning of the living state. Such knowledge is expected to form the basis of more advanced courses like enzymology, analytical methods, metabolic regulation, and molecular biophysics.