Course Offerings: Waterloo

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Antibiotics play essential roles in all branches of healthcare, and the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a significant risk to public health. This course will focus on understanding the biochemical rationale behind how various classes of antibiotics target key bacterial pathways. It will also explore the complexities of antimicrobial resistance mechanisms and practical approaches to overcome them. Advances in antibiotic discovery and alternative therapies like ...

In the winter 2025 term the focus of the course will be electronic structure theory and some discussions of vibrational problems and coupled electronic-nuclear motion (non-adiabatic systems). The course will cover a description of the basic electronic structure problem introducing an atomic orbital basis set, Slater determinants and the Slater-Condon rules. Then we will cover Hartree-Fock theory in fair detail, and briefly discuss density functional theory, in analogy to Hartree-Fock.  We ...

This course is inspired by recent experimental advances in the field of solid-state quantum information processing (QIP), especially electron spin qubits realized in semiconductor nanostructures known as quantum dots (“artificial atoms”). It begins by covering the fundamentals of spin and angular momentum, QIP, semiconductor physics, quantum transport, and quantum dots. The course aims to equip students to fully comprehend the research literature in the field of semiconductor spin qubits ...

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Atomic and molecular clusters constitute intermediates between molecules, with clearly defined quantum states, and condensed matter where these states form bands or continua. As such, the study of clusters can be viewed as a means of unravelling the evolution of bulk properties from those of the constituent atoms/molecules. Interestingly, owing to the high ratio of surface atoms to bulk atoms, there are many analogies between the chemistry and physics of clusters and of solid surfaces. For ...

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This graduate level course will familiarize students with the principles of organometallic chemistry by covering various stoichiometric and catalytic organometallic reactions. An introduction to the mechanisms of organometallic reactions, and the importance of organometallic complexes in metal-promoted bond-forming and bond-breaking processes will be illustrated with examples of applications in organic synthesis. ...

The glassy state and the glass transition: Phenomenology. Free volume, thermodynamic and kinetic theories. Plasticization, molecular weight, cross-linking effects, blending. Structure-property correlations. Dynamic mechanical properties, glassy state relaxations. Rubber elasticity: Phenomenology, stress-strain measurements. Quantitative treatment of rubber elasticity: thermodynamic and statistical approaches. Affine and phantom network deformation. Cross-linking, swelling, ...

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Discussion of specialized topics related to the research interests of the members of the Centre. For example, recent offerings have included: Metalloproteins and Metalloenzymes; Heme Proteins; Chemistry of Enzymatic Reaction Mechanisms; Peptides – Synthesis, Structure and Function; Food Enzymology; Advanced Microbial Physicology; NMR in Biological Systems. This course covers the basics of biomolecular NMR spectroscopy and its application to protein and nucleic acid structure ...

The objective of this course is to provide an introduction to strategies for design of drug candidates, including structure-based and ligand-based drug discovery. It builds upon molecular modelling principles introduced in CHEM 340, and will apply them to specific problems in drug design. Specific topics include molecular modelling, molecular dynamics using molecular mechanics principles, molecular docking and virtual screening of drug molecules to target proteins, computational analysis of ...

This reading course provides an introduction to Quantum Molecular Dynamics approaches and their applications. A review of essential concepts of statistical mechanics will first be covered and the Feynman path integral formulation of quantum statistical mechanics will be introduced. Simulation techniques such as path integral Monte Carlo and path integral molecular dynamics will be discussed and illustrated with applications to quantum fluids, the spectroscopy of quantum clusters, the ...

This course provides an overview of laser fundamentals and the application of ultrashort optical and electron pulses in femtosecond pump-probe methods with emphasis on ultrafast structural dynamics. FORMAT OF LECTURES: Most lectures will be delivered in-person, with some exceptions delivered remotely or asynchronously. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: -Understand the basics of light propagation of in vacuum and dielectric materials. -Understand basic conditions for lasing: ...

Chemistry 766: Organic Spectroscopy is a graduate-level discussion on the use of spectroscopic techniques in organic chemistry. This course will focus specifically on the use of spectroscopic data for the identification and structural elucidation of organic molecules. Students will learn to effectively use a combination of datasets, consisting of mass spectroscopy (MS), infrared (IR) spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, for correctly identifying ...

Basic definitions: Monomers, polymers, polymerization reactions. Polymer structure, nomenclature. Molecular weight distributions and average molecular weights. Chain conformations: End-to-end distance, radius of gyration, molecular dimensions, excluded volume. Molecular weight measurements: Colligative properties, osmometry, light scattering, viscosity, gel permeation chromatography. Step-growth polymerization. Types of reactions. Reactivity, kinetics. ...

The objectives of the CHEM 784(0) requirement are to encourage MSc students to learn to use scientific literature at an early stage of their program, to stimulate in-depth thinking about the basis of their thesis research, and to develop their interpersonal and written communication skills. The goal of CHEM 784(0) is the construction of a written scientific literature review that focuses specifically on the thesis research topic of the individual student. Through this process, ...