The general aims of the module are:
• To give the student practical experience and understanding of advanced practical techniques in three areas from: Organic, Inorganic, Physical and Computational Chemistry.
• To develop appropriate techniques for each type of experiment
• To show the use of suitable characterisation and numerical techniques
• To make valid deductions from acquired data
• To familiarise the student with the preparation of written reports
• To introduce structured programming in PYTHON (if computational option chosen)
• To establish a close link with aspects of the lecture material covered in the Yr2 and Yr3 course

(LO1) By the end of the module, students should be able to
* Carry out advanced practical techniques in three of the areas of Organic, Inorganic, Physical Chemistry and Computational Chemistry
* Give a reasoned written exposition of experimental or computational work and achievements
* Make valid deductions from acquired data
* Give comprehensible written accounts of experimental work
* Demonstrate an understanding of shortcomings, experimental errors or weaknesses in data
* Further develop their time management skills via coordination of the synthetic and analytical components of their experiments
* Develop strategies for structured programming and user-friendly, re-usable code in PYTHON to solve numerically Physical Chemistry models (if computational option chosen)

This module consists of three four-week practical sessions in Organic, Inorganic, Physical or Computational Chemistry. Students can choose a combination that includes Physical Chemistry and two of the other three areas of Chemistry.

Organic and Inorganic Chemistry: Students carry out three synthetic experiments and are required to produce a written laboratory report for each experiment, supplying the compounds they have made, produce full analytical and spectroscopic data and demonstrate mechanistic details of the chemistry involved. Each experiment is accompanied by a series of questions to which the student has to submit answers in their written report.

Physical Chemistry: Students carry out two physical chemistry experiments. A written laboratory report is required for each experiment and this includes both the description of experimental work and interpretation of the results. In addition, each experiment includes several questions, the answers to which are submitted for marking as part of the written report.

Computational Chemistry: Following hands-on workshops introducing basic concepts and elements of PYTHON programming under a LINUX operating system, students carry out three computer-based experiments of Computational Chemistry based on their own developed code. Students have to submit written reports with interpretation of the numerical results and insights of the experiment, the PYTHON code used to generate their results, user manual for their program, and BASH command history.

This module consists of three four-week practical sessions in Organic, Inorganic, Physical or Computational Chemistry. Students can choose a combination that includes Physical Chemistry and two of the other three areas of Chemistry.

Organic Chemistry: Students carry out three organic experiments that are based on catalytic transformations (enzyme-catalysed resolution, metal-catalysed reactions) and give them experience of both flash chromatography and recrystallisation as purification techniques. The reaction products are analysed by NMR, IR, optical rotations and melting points.

Inorganic Chemistry: Students carry out three inorganic experiments in which they prepare and analyse compounds from the branches of organometallic and solid state chemistry. The background to these topics is taught in lecture modules CHEM214 and CHEM313.

Physical Chemistry: Students carry out two physical chemistry experiments in the areas of spectroscopy, electrochemistry and surfac e science. The experiments serve as an introduction to subjects covered in semester 2 Physical Chemistry lectures and allow students to develop more sophisticated skills in data acquisition, analysis and fitting.

Computational Chemistry: Following hands-on workshops introducing basic concepts and elements of PYTHON programming under a LINUX operating system, students carry out three computer-based experiments of Computational Chemistry based on their own developed code. These experiments introduce the students to contemporary best practice in numerical solution of core Computational Chemistry problems and Physical Chemistry models covered in the Physical Chemistry lectures of Yr 2, and serve as an introduction to subjects covered in semester 2 Physical Chemistry lectures. In order to make the most of this strand, students who have not scored at least 60% at the first attempt in the CHEM260 (PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY II) and CHEM280 (KEY SKILLS FOR CHEMISTS 2) modules in Yr 2 are advised against selecting this option.