Syllabus Chemist in Coirfed and Conservation officer in States Archieves Dept:25/2024, 529/2024 Kerala PSC Syllabus. DETAILED SYLLABUS FOR THE POST OF CHEMIST IN COIRFED AND
CONSERVATION OFFICER IN STATE ARCHIVES DEPARTMENT
Category Numbers : 325/2024, 529/2024
Syllabus Chemist in Coirfed and Conservation officer in States Archieves Dept
Total : 100 Marks
Module 1 – Inorganic Chemistry-1 – 10 Marks
Structure and bonding in molecules- Chemical periodicity- Chemistry of Hydrogen and s
block elements- Chemistry of p block elements and d block elements- Extractive chemistry of
various metals of commercial importance- Chemistry of Nontransition elements like Glass
Theories of acids and bases- HSAB concept- solvent effects, linear free energy relationship
– mechanism and methods of determination, super acids – Reactions in Non-aqueous solventsProtic and Aprotic solvents-
Chemistry of Isopoly and Heteropoly acids ; Silicon-Oxygen
compounds; Zeolites ; Xenon and Krypton compounds including their organic and coordination
compounds Synthesis, reactions, structure and bonding in Sulphur-Nitrogen compounds ; SulphurPhosphorus compounds ; Phosphorous-Nitrogen compounds ; Boron – Nitrogen compounds ;
Boron hydrides; Organoboranes; Carboranes and metallocarboranes- STYX and WADE rules
Chemistry of Lanthanides and Actinides including their extraction and applications as well
as their coordination complexes and spectral behaviour
Theories of Coordination Chemistry in detail: Werner’s theory – Crystal field theory –
Ligand field theory – Molecular orbital theory- Stereochemistry of coordination compounds- Jahn
Teller distortion- Detailed study of Stability and reactions of metal complexes- Electron transfer,
Substitution and Photochemical reactions and their kinetics
Module 2 – Inorganic Chemistry-2 – 10 Marks
Construction of energy level diagrams. Correlation diagram. Method of descending
symmetry. Term symbols; Correlation diagrams for dn
and d10 ions in octahedral and tetrahedral
fields ; Orgel and Tanabe-Sugano diagrams. Symmetry and Selection rules for electronic spectra ,
IR and Raman Theory of Electronic, IR, NMR, ESR and Mossbaur spectra of complexes.
Different aspects of magnetic properties of complexes and their determination.
Spectroscopic Methods in Inorganic Chemistry- Structural elucidation of coordination
compounds containing the following molecules/ ions as ligands- NH3, H2O, CO, NO, OH– , SO2
–,CN–, SCN–, NO –, NO –, CH3COO– and X–(X=halogen). changes in ligand vibration on
coordination with metal ions.- CD and ORD spectra of metal complexes- NMR of metal nuclides
with emphasis on 11B, 31P and 19F NMR.- ESR spectra: Application to Cu(II) complexes and
inorganic free radicals such as PH4, F –and [BH ]– . Mossbauer Spectroscopy: Application of the
technique to the studies of iron and tin complexes
Nomenclature, synthesis, structure, properties and bonding of organo-metallic compounds
metal carbonyls and cyanides – Complexes with linear π donor ligands: Olefins, acetylenes,
dienes and allyl complexes. Complexes with cyclic π donors: Cyclopentadiene, benzene
complexes. Structure and bonding of ferrocene and dibenzenechromium complexes –
Metal –Metal bonds and metal atom clusters. Tri , Tetra and hexa nuclear clusters, Isoelectronic
and isolobal relationships, Low nuclearity and High nuclearity carbonyl clusters (LNCCs and
HNCCs). Cubane Clusters, Chalcogenide Clusters, Chevrel Phases. Zintl Anions and Cations
– Capping Rule Catalysis by organo metallic compounds and metal clusters- hydrogenation,
hydroformylation and polymerization.
Essential and trace metal elements in biological systems, . Role of Iron,Calcium, Copper,
Lithium, Aluminium, Magnesium and other metals in biological systems structure and functions
of biological membranes, mechanism of ion transport across membranes, sodium- potassium
pump. – Role and effects : Coenzymes, Cytochromes, chlorophylls and hormones. Photosynthesis,
porphyrin ring system, chlorophyll, PS I and PS II. Synthetic model for photosynthesis. Inorganic
medicinal chemistry. Metals in medicine.
Module 3 – Inorganic Chemistry-3 – 10 Marks
Nuclear reactions – structure and stability- Magic numbers – Detailed study of different
nuclear models- radio active equilibria and equations of radioactive decay and growth – Nuclear
reactions: Direct nuclear reactions, heavy ion induced nuclear reactions, photonuclear reactions.
Neutron captures cross section and critical size -Applications of nuclear reactions- fission and
fusion; neutron activation analysis – counting techniques.
Solid State Chemistry: Crystal symmetry- Point groups and space groups. Miller indices
and Bravais Lattices- Close packed structures: BCC, FCC and HCP. Voids. Coordination number.
X-ray diffraction by crystals: Applications and calculations using Bragg’s equation and
indexing methods. Different types of Crystal defects and consequences
Electronic structure of solids. Different theories about conductors, insulators and
semiconductors and their applications. Doping and band gap adjustments. AX, AX2, AmX2, ABX3,
Spinels and Inverse spinel structures. Structure and theories of Liquids- Liquid crystals and their
applications.
Temperature dependence of conductivity, carrier density and carrier mobility in
semiconductors – Superconductivity, Photoconductivity Photovoltaic effect.
Colour in inorganic solids. – Dielectric properties. Dielectric materials. Ferroelectricity,
pyroelectricity, piezoelectricity and ionic conductivity. Applications of ferro, piezo and
pyroelectrics.
Inorganic Advanced materials : Solid Electrolytes: Mixed oxides, cationic, anionic solid
electrolytes, mixed ionic-electronic conductors- Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC), Rechargeable
battery materials- Solid state chemistry of metal nitrides and fluorides, chalcogenides,
intercalation chemistry and metal-rich phases.- Inorganic pigments, Inorganic phosphorsMolecular materials and fullerides, basic idea of molecular materials chemistry like One
dimensional metals, Molecular magnets and Inorganic liquid crystals.
Module 4 – Organic Chemistry-1 – 10 Marks
Nomenclature of organic compounds – Cyclic, fused polycyclic and bridged polycyclic
hydrocarbons, bridged and fused hydrocarbon systems, Spirocyclic hydrocarbon systems,
Heterocyclic systems containing Nitrogen and Oxygen.
Molecular symmetry and chirality, axial chirality, planar chirality and helicity, relative
configuration, stereochemical nomenclature, R and S, E and Z. Stereo chemistry of biphenyl and
allenes – Topicity and prostereo isomerism -asymmetric synthesis. Axial stereochemistry:
atropisomerism and its designation – biphenyls, allenes, spiranes- M and P configurations.
Stereoselectivity: enantioselectivity, diastereoselectivity & stereoconvergence. Stereospecific and
stereoselective synthesis. stereotopicity & stereoprojections. Prochiral centre and prochiral facesPro R and Pro S, Re face and Si face, Importance of prochirality in biological systems.
Geometrical isomerism . , Conformational analysis in acyclic and cyclic systems , Application of
Cram’s rule, Felkin–Ahn model
Basic concepts of Organic reactions – Electron displacement effects –Aromaticity and
antiaromaticity. Non aromatic, homoaromatic, hetero and non–benzenoid aromatic systems.
Aromaticity of annulenes, mesoionic compounds, metallocenes, cyclic carbocations and
carbanions.
Mechanism and applications of common substitution, addition, elimination and
rearrangement reactions. Stereochemistry and factors affecting Aliphatic and Aromatic SN1
and SN2 reactions. SN1′, SN2′, SNi SNAr and benzyne mechanisms – NGP and Nonclassical
carbocations- Generation and reactions of Nitrenes, Carbenes and free radicals like Triphenyl
methyl, TEMPO, Dibenzoyl peroxide, NBS , Tributyl Tinhydride and AIBN. – Chlorination of
alkane, addition of HX, SRN1 mechanism- Acyloin condensation, Alkyne coupling reactionsReimer-Tiemann, Vilsmeier-Haack reactions. Mitsunobu reaction and Chichibabin reactions.
Mechanism of Addition of H2O, X2, HX, and boranes to C=C systems- Cis and trans
hydroxylation of cycloalkenes- Mechanism and applications of Michael addition and Robinson
Annulation- Aldol condensation- Stork enamine, Cannizzaro, Perkin, Ritter, Stobbe,
Knoevenagel, Darzen, Reformatsky and benzoin condensations- Grignard, Mannich, Thorpe
reactions and Dieckmann condensation
Mechanism and regio and stereo aspects of E1, E2 and E1cb reactions in cyclic and
acyclic systems. Hoffmann and Saytzeff elimination- Elimination Vs substitution- Mechanism
and applications of Shapiro reaction, Peterson and Julia olefination, Wittig and Wittig – Horner
reactions; Chugaev reaction and Cope eliminations- Sodium in liquid ammonia and Lindlars
catalyst in conversion of alkynes to alkenes
Module 5 – Organic Chemistry-2 – 10 Marks
Mechanism with evidence of Wagner – Meerwein, Pinacol, Demjanov, Hofmann, Curtius,
Schmidt, Lossen, Beckmann, Fries, Hofmann–Martius, Dienone–phenol, Benzilic acid,
Benzidine, Favorskii, Stevens and Wolf rearrangement.
Oxidation and Reduction reactions in organic synthesis- Reduction using boranes,
hindered boranes and derivatives- NaBH4, and LiAlH4, DIBAL-H, tri-n-butyltin hydride, diimide,
and aluminium alkoxide. Birch reduction, Clemmensen reduction and Wolff – Kishner reduction,
Huang – Minlon modification, Rosenmund reduction – allylic and benzylic oxidation, Sharpless
epoxidation, oxidation using SeO2, manganese (IV) oxide, lead tetraacetate, ozone, peracids,
DDQ, silver carbonate and Cr(VI) reagents. Jones oxidation, Swern oxidation, Moffatt oxidation,
Sommelet reaction. Applications of HIO4, OsO4 and mCPBA
Linear Free Energy Relations, The Hammett equation and its applications. Significance of
sigma (σ) and rho (ρ) reactions with negative and positive ρ, low and high ρ, abnormal Hammet
plot, Taft equation. Hammet plot and applications- Primary, secondary, inverse kinetic isotope
effects. Salt effects and special salt effects in SN reactions
Retrosynthetic analysis and disconnection approach in organic synthesis- Olefin
metathesis- Grubbs’ catalysts. Umpolung concept-1,3-Dithiane, benzoin condensation. Heck,
Negishi, Sonagashira, Kumada, Stille coupling and Suzuki coupling
Use of various organic, inorganic and organometallic reagents in organic synthesisGrignard reagents, Alkyl lithiums, Lithium Dialkylcuprates, Alkynyl copper reagents, Tebbe
reagent etc. Use of various protecting groups in peptide synthesis. Phase transfer catalysis and
its applications.
Module 6 – Organic Chemistry-3 – 10 Marks
Photochemical processes. Singlet and triplet states and their reactivity, Jablonski diagram,
Energy transfer, sensitization and quenching. Photoreactions of carbonyl compounds, enes,
dienes and arenes. Patterno-Buchi and Barton reactions, Hofmann- Löffler- Freytag reaction,
photo-Fries and Di-π methane, di- π methane rearrangements. Applications of photochemistry.
Classification of pericyclic reactions, FMO, Correlation diagram, Mobius and Huckel
theory of electrocyclic and cyclo addition reactions- Stereo and region selectivity and industrial
applications of Diels Alder reaction, 1,3–Dipolar cycloaddition and Sigmatropic rearrangements
Chemistry of Natural Products : Terpenes, steroids, alakaloids, carbohydrates, proteins,
nucleic acids, vitamins, prostoglandins, hormones and enzymes.
Combinatorial organic synthesis, introduction, methodology, automation, solid supported
and solution phase synthesis, study of targeted or focused libraries and small molecule libraries.
Application of Drug design and development- various steps
Fundamentals of polymerization – structure – property relationship of polymers and
polynucleotides- Protein sequencing by Edmans method.
Protein denaturation – Synthesis of stereo regular polymers. Ziegler-Natta catalyst.
Polymers in organic synthesis – supports, reagents and catalysts. Biodegradable polymers
biopolymers
Spectrocopic methods in Organic chemistry- Applications of UV, IR, H1NMR, C13NMR
and Mass Spectroscopy – 2D NMR techniques – NOE, DEPT, and 2D techniques such as COSYHSQC, HMQC and HMBC.
Spectral interpretation and structural elucidation. Solving of
structural problems on the basis of numerical and spectrum based data. ORD and CD – theory
and applications
Module 7 – Physical Chemistry-1 – 10 Marks
Gaseous State- Maxwell’s distribution and equation- Transport phenomena- Chapman
equation- Equations of state of real gases- vander Waals, Virial and other equations- Inter
molecular forces and consequences.
Electronic Structure of Solids – Crystal Symmetry – Theories of Solids – Properties of
Solids : Electrical, Magnetical and Optical – Crystal defects. Structure and Theories of LiquidsXRD of liquids- Theories and calculation of Surface tension and Viscosity – Liquid Crystals and
their applications
Laws of Thermodynamics – Entropy and its dependence on variables of a systemEquations of state- Euler’s relation, Gibbs and Helmholtz equations and energies. Maxwells
relations- Gibbs Duhem equation- Partial Molar Quantities- Chemical potential- FugacityActivity coefficients. Thermodynamics of Solutions – Duhem Marghules equation- vant Hoff’s
equations, isochore and isotherm. Thermodynamics of irreversible process – Fundamentals and
advances in the study of Phase Equilibria – Two and Three Component Systems
Statistical thermodynamics – Molecular Partition Function – Quantum Statistics – Heat
capacities of Solids and Gases- Relationship between partition functions and thermodynamic
properties, Sackur-Tetrode equation. The principle of equi-partition of energy
Chemical equilibrium, Law of mass action, Transformation of the equilibrium expressions.
Statistical derivation.
Module 8 – Physical Chemistry-2 – 10 Marks
The gas-solid interphase, types of adsorption. Monolayer and multilayer adsorption –
Adsorption Isotherms Heat of adsorption and its determination .-Adsorption from solutions
-Determination of surface area of solids-Harkins–Jura absolute method, point B method,
Langmuir method and BET method- – Principles of LEED, SEM, TEM, ECSA, Photoelectron
spectroscopy, scanning probe microscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy
Electrochemistry and Ionics: Activity and activity coefficient of electrolytes, determination
of activity coefficient.- Electrodes and Electrochemical Cells – Nernst, Debye-Huckel, Omsager
Equations – Over potentials: Butler-Volmer equation. Tafel and Nernst equation, Tafel plot and its
significance – Electrolytic Polarization- Fuel cells: H2-O2, zinc-air and solid oxide fuel cellsTheory and applications of electro Analytical Methods : Potentiometry, Polarography ,
Coulometry, Conductometry, Cyclic Voltametry, Stripping Voltametry and Amperometry- Colloids
Zeta Potential – Electrokinetic Phenomena
Basic principles of Kinetics – Kinetics of Complex reactions – steady state approximation
-Theories of Reaction Rates – Arrhenius equation – fast reactions and methods of study. Reactions
in solution: Factors affecting reaction rates in solutions, effect of dielectric constant and ionic
strength, cage effect, Bronsted-Bjerrum equation – Kinetic effects: Primary and secondary kinetic
salt effect, influence of solvent on reaction rates, significance of volume of activation, linear free
energy relationship. Hammet equation and Taft equation.
Catalysis: Mechanism and theories of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis.
Bimolecular surface reactions. Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism. Enzyme catalysis.
Module 9 – Physical Chemistry-3 – 10 Marks
Classical mechanics and its limitations –need of quantum mechanics, de Broglie relation
and its experimental proof, uncertainty principle and its consequences- Formulation of Quantum
Mechanics – Postulates of quantum mechanics- Application of Quantum mechanics to Exactly
Solvable Model Problems- Translational motion- Quantum mechanical tunnelling- Vibrational
motion- and Rotational motion –SHO, Rigid Rotor- Legendre polynomials and associated
Legendre functions Approximation Methods and Chemical Bonding – Hydrogen like Atoms
-Multi Electron Systems – Angular Momentum – SCF and variation method – MO diagram of
homo nuclear diatomic molecules Li2, Be2, B2, C2, O2 and F2 and hetero nuclear diatomic
molecules LiH CO, NO and HFWave functions for multi electron systems, wave equation for multi electron systems,
symmetric and anti- symmetric wave functions, Pauli’s anti-symmetry principle, and the postulate
of spin- Spin orbitals. Spin- orbit coupling. Vector atom model-Term symbols, selection rules and
exp anation of spectral lines of hydrogen atom- Applications- Chemical Bonding in Diatomic and
Polyatomic Molecules
Computational Chemistry – Computational methods : ab initio, Semi Empirical methods –
Molecular Mechanics
Quantum statistics- Bose-Einstein statistics, Thermodynamic probability- Maxwell
Boltzmann, Bose Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics- Quantum theory of heat capacity –
calculation of heat capacity of gases- Dulong and Petit’s law, Kopp’s law; limitations.- Einstein
theory and Debye theory of heat capacity
Symmetry elements and symmetry operation. Basic principles of Group Theory –
Character Tables – . Point groups and their systematic identification.- Multiplication of operations
Setting up of character table of C2v, C3v and C2h groups –Applications to MO Theory, Chemical
Bonding and Spectroscopy
Electronic Spectroscopy of Atoms – Basic principles of Molecular spectroscopy:
Microwave, Infrared, Raman, Electronic, NMR, ESR, Raman and Mossbaur
Module 10 – Analytical, Environmental, Material and Supramolecular chemistry – 10 Marks
Evaluation of analytical data: Accuracy and precision. Standard deviation, variance and
coefficient of variation. Student ‘t’ test, ‘Q’ test, and ‘F’ test. Confidence limits- Errors and their
minimisation- Significant figures- Correlation analysis- Calculation of R by method of least
squares
Theory and practice of : Quantitative and Qualitative analysis- Inorganic analysisOrganic analysis and preparations – physical chemistry experiments (Post graduate level)
Applications of TG, DTA and DSC in the study of metal complexes, ceramics and
polymers.
Theory of chromatographic techniques -Column, TLC, Paper, GC, HPLC and ion
exchange chromatographic techniques. Solvent extraction. Extraction using supercritical liquid
CO2, Craig’s technique of liquid-liquid extraction
Twelve principles of green chemistry and issues in sustainable chemistry – Green synthesis
Application of Phase Transfer Catalysts -Green Reactions- Applications of Microwave and
sonication in the synthesis of organic compounds.
Chemistry of Atmosphere, Hydrosphere and Lithosphere.
Nanostructures – ID, 2D and 3D structures – Synthesis and applications of nanomaterials..
Chemistry behind Piezoelectric, magnetostrictive, halochromic, chromogenic,
electrochromic, thermochromic, magnetocaloric and thermoelectric materials
Supramolecular chemistry – Molecular recognition : Synthetic Receptors, Cyclodextrin,
Calixiranes, Cyclophanes, Crown Ethers- Drug design and Drug action.
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