Environmental Organic Chemistry

3 units

This course covers the fundamental physical-chemical examination of organic molecules (focused on anthropogenic pollutants) in aquatic (environmental) systems. Students learn to calculate and predict the chemical properties that are influencing the partitioning of organic chemicals within air, water, sediments and biological systems. This knowledge will be based on understanding intermolecular interactions and thermodynamic principles. Mechanisms of important thermochemical, hydrolytic, redox, and biochemical transformation reactions are also investigated, leading to the development of techniques (e.g., structure-reactivity relationships) for assessing environmental fate or human exposure potential.