Ateneo - UPO

The Course Module is intended to offer an exhaustive survey of the main instrumental techniques for BS Students of Biological Sciences in Vercelli Campus, mainly targeted towards the organic-biological perspective.

D.A. Skoog, F.J. Holler, S.R. Crouch, Chimica Analitica Strumentale, EdiSES.

The Students are to be formed towards the acquisition of a critical knowledge about the potentiasl of a given analytical technique, the related basic physical foundations and the main applicative and operational features.

Basic foundations acquired from the General and Inorganic Chemistry, and the Experimental Physics Courses, intended for Biological Sciences Students.

Classroom Lessons, providing Slides of the topics, integrated by the Teacher Comments.

Course news and alerts are available on the DIR UPO web platform.

Written exhamination (2 hours), with 3 open questions about the Course topics (1 free-to-choose eligible by the Students).

Course introduction. Technical-applicative aims of tackled analytical methods. Integration with the Course Microbiological Module. Teaching materials. Exhamination rules. Energy and heat in the Universe. Energy transfer. Convection, conduction, irradiation. Emission and absorbance. Electromagnetic waves. Periodical features. Energy transport by irradiation. Equation of Planck. Atomic nuclei. Stability conditions. Equation of Einstein. Ondulatory law of De Broglie. Energy-wave, energy-mass, and mass-wave dualisms. Application to electromagnetic waves. The electromagnetic spectrum. Gamma-rays, X-rays, UV-VIS-NIR rays, IR rays, microwave rays, radio-wave rays. General features and applicative contexts in spectroscopical techniques. UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometry. Fundamentals of
molecular LCAO theory. Elements of molecular electron transition rules. Specific absorptions of the main organic-biological chemical groups. The UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer. single- and double-ray instruments. Measurement methods. Sources. Collimators. Monocromators. The grating monocromator. Measurement cells. Detectors. UV-VIS-NIR spectra. Qualitative and quantitative data. The Absorbance. Lambert-Beer law. Transmittance and absorbance. Examples. Molecular vibrational modes. The number of vibrational modes for a given molecule. Quantisation of vibrational levels. Diagnostic vibrations of the main organic-biological groups. IR spectroscopy. Wave-molecule interaction, molecular dipole variation, IR active-modes. Analytical methods. Sample pre-treatments. Qualitative data from IR spectroscopy. The FT-IR technique. Meaning and advantages of the FT method. The Michelson-Morley interferometer. Non-linear optical effects. Raman effect. Raman spectrophotometry. Photon-molecule interaction, Raman-active molecules. Advantages and disadvantages of Raman technique. The Raman spectrophotometer. LASER sources. Mass spectrometry. Instrument components. Ionisation sources. Hard (EI, FAB) sources and mild (ESI, MALDI) sources. Mass spectrometers. Magnetic and ionic trap analysers. Quadrupole mass analyser. TOF mass anlyser (MALDI-TOF). Representative biological analysed targets. Fundamentals of NMR spectroscopy. The spin property. The giromagnetic quantic moment. NMR spectroscopy. The Cemical Shift. Gemini and proxymity nuclei. Nuclear spin population. Statistic multiplicity of NMR signals. Simple spectral applications of 1H-NMR. Hints at the SS-NMR and EPR related techniques. Foundations of structuristic molecular analysis. Crystalline solids. X-ray diffractometry. Bragg's law. Single-crystal (SC-XRD) and crystalline powder (XRPD) dirractometry. Colloidal and disperse systems. The DLS-Z Potential analytical method. CCD photodetectors. Light-scattered imaging photocorrelation (PCS), and its relationship with dispersed particle size (DLS). Mono- and poly-dispersed samples. Examples. The NIBS technique. The Z Potential. Definition, and the colloidal stability conditions. The Henry equation. Electrophoretical cells. LASER Doppler velocimetry and the evaluation of Z Potential. Examples. Thermogravimetrical TGA analysis. Method principles, editing of a thermogram. Analytical applications in the biological context. Foundations of electron microscopy. Accelerated electron wavelenghts. Backscattered (primary, secundary phenomena) and transmitted electrons (SEM, TEM techniques). The atomic X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Hyphenated SEM-EDX and TEM-EDX analyses. Elemental ICP analyses. The principle of method. Plasma state in matters. Analyses in the Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) torch. ICP-OES and ICP-MS instrumentation. Analytical examples. Mineralisation and digestion pre-tratment of analytes. Chromatographic techniques. The distribution coefficient. Keywords in chromatography. Stationary and mobile phases. The retention time (RT). LC and IC direct-phase chromatography, inverse-phase HPLC and GC cromatography. Size-exclusion GPC chromatography. The GC-MS hyphenated technique.

It is aimed to induce a critical knowledge in attending Students about the potential of a given analytical method, accompanied by basic knowledge of its physical foundations, as well as of its practical, applicative main issues.