Undergraduate Chemistry Courses
CHEM 110 – Preparatory Chemistry (3 hours, as of Fall 2025)
This lecture course is required for students who on the basis of their Math ACT or SAT or performance on the ALEKS math placement examination need further preparation before enrolling in CHEM 115. Topics include scientific terminology and concepts; chemical arithmetic; chemical symbols, formulas and equations; the mole concept; problems solving. This course does not satisfy any chemistry degree requirements.
CHEM 111 – Survey of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry 1 (3 hours)
This service lecture course is taken by students pursuing majors that require only one year of college chemistry. This course presents an introduction to atomic structure; chemical bonding; acids, bases, and salts; periodicity; properties of gases, liquids, and solids; stoichiometry; oxidation-reduction.
CHEM 111L – Survey of Chemistry 1 Laboratory (1 hour)
Laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 111 lecture course.
CHEM 112 – Survey of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry 2 (3 hours)
This service lecture course is a continuation of CHEM 111 and introduces students to nuclear chemistry; air and water pollution; useful natural materials; consumer chemistry; organic chemistry and biochemistry. CHEM 111 and 112 cannot be used as prerequisite courses for organic chemistry.
CHEM 112L – Survey of Chemistry 2 Laboratory (1 hour)
Laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 112 lecture course.
CHEM 115 – Fundamentals of Chemistry 1 (3 hours)
This lecture course is taken by science and engineering majors who need a more in-depth treatment of chemical principles than provided by CHEM 111. The topics include chemical stoichiometry, properties of gases, thermochemistry, molecular structure and bonding, the periodic table, and atomic structure.
CHEM 115L – Fundamentals of Chemistry 1 Laboratory (1 hour)
Laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 115 lecture course.
CHEM 116 – Fundamentals of Chemistry 2 (3 hours)
This lecture course is a continuation of CHEM 115 and covers colligative properties of solutions, chemical equilibrium and thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, principles of electrochemistry, nuclear chemistry, and transition metal chemistry.
CHEM 116L – Fundamentals of Chemistry 2 Laboratory (1 hour)
Laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 116 lecture course.
CHEM 215 – Introductory Analytical Chemistry (3 hours)
This lecture course introduces the theory and application of chemical principles that have been employed for the development of quantitative methods of analysis. The topics covered include volumetric and gravimetric analyses, solution equilibria, spectrophotometry, chemical separations, and electrochemical methods of analysis.
CHEM 215L – Introductory Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (1 hour)
Laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 215 lecture course.
CHEM 231 - Organic Chemistry: Brief Course (3 hours)
This service lecture course is taken by students, who only need a one-semester survey course in organic chemistry, and places emphasis on biological applications for students in medical technology, agriculture, and family resources. This course stresses nomenclature, structure, reactivity, and stereochemistry of organic compounds.
CHEM 231L – Organic Chemistry: Brief Course Laboratory (1 hour)
Laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 231 lecture course.
CHEM 233 – Organic Chemistry 1 (3 hours)
This lecture course is the first semester organic chemistry course designed to introduce basic principles of organic chemistry, modern structural concepts and stereochemistry, the effects of structure on physical and chemical properties, organic reactions and their mechanisms, and organic synthesis.
CHEM 233L – Organic Chemistry Laboratory (1 hour)
Laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 233 lecture course. This laboratory course explores fundamental organic reactions and involves the preparation of organic compounds.
CHEM 234 – Organic Chemistry 2 (3 hours)
This lecture course is a continuation of CHEM 233.
CHEM 234L – Organic Chemistry 2 Laboratory (1 hour)
Laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 234 lecture course. This laboratory course is a continuation of CHEM 233L.
CHEM 310 – Instrumental Analysis (3 hours)
This lecture course covers the fundamental aspects of instrumental methods of analysis as applied to various methods of chemical analysis, including electrochemistry, spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and chromatography.
CHEM 310L – Instrumental Analysis Laboratory (1 hour)
Laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 310 lecture course. This laboratory course explores the practical application of modern instrumental methods to problems in chemical analysis.
CHEM 312 – Environmental Chemistry (3 hours)
This course focuses on the nature, reactions, transport, and fate of chemical species in the environment.
CHEM 322 – Inorganic Chemistry 1 (3 hours)
This lecture course provides an introduction to transition metal chemistry and provides a comprehensive overview of the chemistry of main group elements and compounds.
CHEM 335 – Methods of Structure Determination (4 hours)
This lecture course explores the use of chemical methods and instrumental methods, such as UV, IR, NMR, and mass spectrometry, to elucidate structures of organic compounds.
CHEM 335L – Methods of Structure Determination Laboratory (0 hour)
Laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 335 lecture course. CHEM 335L must be taken as a concurrent corequisite to the CHEM 335 lecture course.
CHEM 336 – Fundamental Concepts in Early Drug Discovery (3 hours)
This lecture course develops understanding of the crucial concepts in early drug discovery (e.g., chemical features and how they affect drug interactions with biological systems).
CHEM 341 – Physical Chemistry: Brief Course (3 hours)
This lecture course introduces physical chemistry and covers the topics of chemical thermodynamics, chemical dynamics, and the structure of matter.
CHEM 341L – Physical Chemistry: Brief Course Laboratory (1 hour)
Laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 341 lecture course. This laboratory course is taken simultaneously with CHEM 341.
CHEM 348 – Physical Chemistry 2 (3 hours)
This lecture course involves a comprehensive exploration of fundamental thermodynamics and quantum mechanics principles and their applications in chemistry.
CHEM 348L – Physical Chemistry 2 Laboratory (2 hours)
Standalone laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 348 lecture course. This course teaches the techniques, principles, methods and applications of experimental chemical thermodynamics and experimental chemical kinetics.
CHEM 362 – Biochemistry 1 (3 hours)
This lecture course focuses on the structure and function of the four main types of biomolecules: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.
CHEM 362L – Biochemistry 1 Laboratory (1 hour)
Standalone laboratory course to accompany the CHEM 362 lecture course. This course familiarizes students with biochemical techniques used to analyze various biological processes within living organisms.
CHEM 402 – Chemistry Capstone: Chemical Literature (3 hours)
In this course students learn modern methods for locating, utilizing, compiling, and presenting information needed by the research worker in chemistry disciplines. This course is taken by B.S. majors to fulfill the chemistry capstone requirement.
CHEM 422 – Inorganic Chemistry 2 (3 hours)
Inorganic chemistry sits at the crossroads of analytical, physical, and organic chemistry. This lecture course takes aspects of each of these chemical disciplines and applies them to inorganic main-group and transition metal compounds.
CHEM 422L – Inorganic Synthesis Laboratory (2 hours)
This standalone laboratory course focuses on the application of modern synthetic and spectroscopic methods of analysis to the preparation and characterization of main group, solid-state, transition metal, and organometallic compounds.
CHEM 462 – Biochemistry 2 (3 hours)
This lecture course is the second semester of an undergraduate biochemistry sequence. The course focuses on molecular level processes that enable life and the integration of multiple hierarchies of mechanistic regulation.
CHEM 462L – Biochemistry 2 Laboratory (1 hour)
This standalone laboratory course is the second semester of undergraduate biochemistry laboratory. The course familiarizes students with biochemical techniques used in the analysis of biological species/processes.
CHEM 490 - Teaching Practicum (1-3 hours)
This course enables students to gain experience as a chemistry tutor or laboratory teaching assistant. CHEM 490 course credits do not satisfy chemistry degree requirements.
CHEM 491 – Professional Field Experience (1-18 hours)
This course provides an experiential learning program, which must be prearranged. It is planned, supervised and evaluated for credit by faculty and field supervisors and allows a student to be temporarily placed with a public or private institution for the purpose of the development of professional competency in a specific area.
CHEM 492 – Directed Study (1-6 hours)
This course provides the flexibility to study a specific topic in chemistry of mutual interest to the student and the faculty supervisor.
CHEM 493 – Special Topics (1–6 hours)
This course allows a student to investigate chemistry topics that are not covered in regularly scheduled courses.
CHEM 494 – Seminar (1-3 hours)
This course focuses on the oral presentation and discussion of a chemistry-related topic of mutual interest to the student and faculty.
CHEM 496 – Senior Thesis (1-3 hours)
CHEM 497 – Research (1-6 hours)
This course enables a student to obtain credit for engaging in an independent research project under the supervision of a member of the chemistry faculty. Satisfactory completion requires submission of a written research report or research presentation (oral or poster) at an institutional or disciplinary symposium. Only three credit hours of CHEM 497 may be counted toward the upper-division chemistry elective requirements for the B.S. in Chemistry.
500-level graduate courses - require faculty consent
CHEM 514 – Mass Spectrometry Principles and Practice (3 hours)
This course covers fundamental principles of modern mass spectrometry, including instrument design and application to multidisciplinary problems of current interest.
CHEM 516 – Bioanalytical Chemistry (3 hours)
This course focuses on the application of modern instrumental analytical methods to problems of biological relevance.
CHEM 521 – Organometallic Chemistry (3 hours)
This course focuses on the synthesis, structure, and reactivity of organometallic complexes and explores the applications to chemical catalysis and organic synthesis.
CHEM 531 – Advanced Organic Chemistry 1 (3 hours)
The course focuses on the following topics relevant to organic chemistry: structure and bonding, tautomerism, static and dynamic stereochemistry, mechanism, and chemical reactivity.
CHEM 532 – Advanced Organic Chemistry 2 (3 hours)
This course is a continuation of CHEM 531 with greater emphasis on synthetic methods and reaction mechanism.
CHEM 540 – Bonding and Molecular Structure (3 hours)
This course provides an introduction to quantum theory and its application to atomic structure, chemical bonding, spectroscopy, and molecular structure.
CHEM 547 – Chemical Crystallography (3 hours)
This course, which was formerly listed as CHEM 441 until 2007, focuses on the application of X-ray crystallographic methods for the determination of molecular structure. The course covers diffraction theory, space group symmetry, and the various steps involved in a single-crystal structural analysis.
CHEM 552 – Biochemical Toxicology (3 hours)
This course provides an introduction to the principles of toxicology, with a focus on the processes that occur at the cellular and molecular levels when chemicals interact with living organisms