MChem Chemistry with Drug Discovery

You can select elective classes freely from the University timetable subject to your possessing appropriate entrance qualifications, there being places available, and the times do not clash with compulsory chemistry classes.

Subjects are available in:

• Science
• Engineering
• Business
• Arts & Humanities

Chemistry students are provided with a list of classes where the timetable is suitable, although other options are also available. Students often choose a language class as an elective.

This class provides a broad knowledge of the important concepts in Thermodynamics, investigating the major features as applied to chemical systems. Topics include:

• the importance of reaction rates in chemical systems
• concepts of the electrode/solution interface
• equilibrium and electron transfer kinetics
• mass transport
• the composition and utilisation of fossil fuels with their environmental pollutants
• nuclear and renewable energy sources

This class provides an introduction to:

• thermodynamics, and its application to pharmaceutical systems
• chemical kinetics, and the stability of drug molecules
• the solid state, where a knowledge of crystal structure often explains drug properties
• dissolution and solubility, and their importance to drug absorption
• surface chemistry, and the role of surface-active compounds in formulation in the solubilisation of drug molecules

Students have the option to spend third year studying abroad in a sister University in the European Union or the European Free Trade Area.

We're leading practitioners of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), designed to simplify and facilitate the planning and recognition of periods of study in other universities. Additional EU funding under the ERASMUS programme may be available to some students each year to supplement their SAAS grants.

There will also be opportunities to spend third year at one of the premier universities in the USA or in Canada, but you'll have to find some money towards the costs.

Provides an understanding of intermolecular forces and their importance in defining key aspects of chemical behaviour and molecular organisation. The class introduces:

• surface chemistry and the common systems in which it plays a major role
• the electronic structure of atoms and molecules through the prism of quantum chemistry
• group theory and how it can be applied to the determination of the symmetry of molecules and their properties
• the principles of bonding in molecules as described by valence bond and molecular orbital theories

Students conduct experiments in physical and applied chemistry and in chemistry relating to drug discovery, gaining practical experience of theoretic aspects of physical, applied and synthetic medicinal chemistry covered in lectures.

You'll develop:

• laboratory skills
• skills in physical chemistry & analytical observation
• the use of statistical methods
• synthetic medicinal chemistry & analysis
• applications of spectroscopy & common instrumental techniques
• the writing of laboratory reports

This course will provide a detailed overview on the structure, function and chemistry of biological macromolecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and carbohydrates. Topics include:

• protein & nucleic acid folding
• energetics of macromolecular interactions (kinetics & thermodynamics)
• mechanistic enzymology

The overarching theme in this course is that structure and function are intimately linked.

This class teaches modern NMR spectroscopy as it is applied to chemistry. It covers skills for handling and interpreting NMR data for the purposes of chemical structure elucidation.

The theoretical basis of the NMR experiment using the vector formalism. The reactivities of organic molecules. Organic syntheses using the disconnection approach. The synthesis and reactivities of electron-poor and electron-rich heterocyclic molecules. Also provides an insight into the role of computational chemistry in chemical research and training in the use of modern computational chemistry software.

• ligands & their influence on complexes
• trends in structure & bonding, stereochemistry
• reactivity & the application of spectroscopic & other methods of identification
• modern spectroscopy as it is applied in chemistry