Chemistry

This course is an introduction to the chemistry of foods, more specifically the chemistry of groups of compounds present in food: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, phenolic compounds, and enzymes. Chemical changes that take place during the storage and processing of crops and food are learned. In addition, during the laboratory classes, students design experiments, analyze the composition of food products, and write a scientific lab report. Food technologists should be able to estimate the relevance of various chemical and enzymatic processes by making calculations. To practice this part of food chemistry, the quantification of specific reactions is practiced in calculation cases.

This course provides a firm and rigorous foundation in current concepts of the structure and functions of biomolecules in molecular cellular biology. These fundamental concepts form the basis of almost all recent advances in biological and biomedical sciences. The course introduces and discusses biomolecular structures and functions (including protein, carbohydrates, lipid, and nucleotides) and how these biomolecules play roles in biological processes including cellular biocatalyst and metabolism. Practical sessions provide experience in data interpretation and learning of basic laboratory techniques.

This course provides individual research training for students in the Junior Year Engineering Program through the experience of belonging to a specific laboratory at Tohoku University. Students are assigned to a laboratory with the consent of the faculty member in charge. They participate in various group activities, including seminars, for the purposes of training in research methods and developing teamwork skills. The specific topic studied depends on the instructor in charge of the laboratory to which each student is assigned. The methods of assessment vary with the student's project and laboratory instructor. Students submit an abstract concerning the results of their individual research each semester and present the results near the end of this program.

The course provides an introduction to modern materials chemistry, covering both inorganic materials and organic polymers. Models of bonding and structure in the solid state are developed and linked to functionality of the materials themselves. Synthetic and characterization methods are discussed. Students learn about current challenges in materials chemistry, and how to design materials to overcome them.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. The course requires basic knowledge of organic chemistry, general chemistry, and physical chemistry concepts as a prerequisite. The course explores topics including polymers and production processes from renewable sources, processes of recovery and recycling of polymeric materials, depolymerization and degradation of polymeric materials, production of biodegradable polymers, membranes and polymeric technologies, and composite materials for the environment and energy. The course includes a lab session where students work with biodegradable materials in order to understand their properties. Students prepare a lab report about this experience.

This course gives an introduction to methods of pharmaceutical analysis, which utilizes chromatographic, spectroscopic, and electroanalytical techniques to determine the structure and purity of medicinal compounds. Topics include analytical methods for characterizing pharmaceutical solids, AA Spectroscopy in pharmaceutical analysis, extraction of organic and inorganic analytes from aqueous solution, spectroscopic techniques, and complementary techniques to determine the structure and purity of a pharmaceutical compound.

Topics include energy, enthalpy, work and entropy; laws of thermodynamics and their applications; rates of reaction: their quantitative dependence on concentration and temperature; and the steady-state approximation and chemical mechanisms.

The course begins with a review of the scientific background needed to understand the role that chemistry has played in technological progress so far and to answer the question: can chemistry help in achieving sustainability goals, and how?
The course approaches sustainability from a chemistry perspective, starting by introducing the 12 principles of green chemistry and giving examples of their applications in real life. Green chemistry metrics, such as atom economy and environmental factors, to be able to measure and compare aspects of chemical processes in terms of sustainability are reviewed. An overview of the principles of catalysis and different types of catalysts, with an eye on real industrial processes and sustainable chemistry is provided. New processes to help close the carbon cycle and reduce our environmental impact such as hydrogen production, biomass utilization, plastic waste recycling, and reduced use of solvents are discussed. In project groups of 2-3 students, an established industrial chemical process with an emerging, more sustainable route, and deliver a report focused on the green chemical aspects of the process are compared. 

The Individual Research Training Senior (IRT Senior) Course is an advanced course of the Individual Research Training A (IRT A) course in the Tohoku University Junior Year Program in English (JYPE) in the fall semester. Though short-term international exchange students are not degree candidates at Tohoku University, a similar experience is offered by special arrangement. Students are required to submit: an abstract concerning the results of their IRT Senior project, a paper (A4, 20-30 pages) on their research at the end of the exchange term, and an oral presentation on the results of their IRT Senior project near the end of the term.

The objectives of this course are to: 

• Understand perfect gas law, kinetic theory and the first law of thermodynamics.

• Understand the 2nd and 3rd law of thermodynamics and phase transition.

• Understand simple mixtures and chemical reactions based on thermodynamics.