Learning objectives

The course will provide the fundamental skills to understand chemical-physical phenomena concerning systems of biotechnological interest. The student will acquire the ability to apply chemical-physical concepts for the measurement of thermodynamic, kinetic, spectroscopic and transport quantities. Special attention will be devoted to applicative aspects, such as cases of real systems and various methods to analyse the results obtained from laboratory experiments. The course will include laboratory experiences to provide manual skills and critical ability in dealing with chemical-physical processes, as well as to provide notions on acquiring data with modern equipment. Experiments concerning the measurement of thermodynamic quantities, kinetic constants and other spectroscopic properties, concerning electronic, vibrational and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) properties of molecules of biotechnological interest will be discussed. Moreover, experiments on the properties of colloidal systems will be considered.