Università Roma Tre

1. Safety elements in the chemical laboratory.
2. Overview of the contents of the Pharmacopoeia and selected monographs.
3. Molecular analysis: a. Melting point: theoretical and practical aspects, effect of impurities, determination. b. Boiling point and its determination. c. Overview of refractometry, absolute and relative density, and polarimetry and application to the analysis of pharmaceutical compounds.
4. Structural Analysis: a. Preliminary Examinations: evaluation of solubility, factors influencing it, characteristics of solvents, effect of pH. Solubility of substances in acid and base solutions. b. Organoleptic examination. c. Behavior upon calcination. d. Qualitative elemental analysis: Lassaigne's assay (detection of N, S, halides). e. Assays for the detection of the aromatic ring and unsaturations. f. Physical properties, solubility, and detection tests for the most common functional groups: carboxylic acids, esters, amides, amines, amino acids, alcohols, phenols, and ethers.
5. Separation and Purification Methods: a. Separation techniques for homogeneous mixtures: 1) Solvent extraction and extraction methods; 2) Crystallization; 3) Distillation; 4) Chromatography: Introduction, classification of chromatographic methods, most frequently used solid, liquid, and chemically bonded stationary phases; chromatographic separation mechanisms (partition, adsorption, ion exchange, size exclusion, affinity chromatography). b. Separation techniques for heterogeneous mixtures: 1) Sublimation; 2) Filtration; 3) Centrifugation.
6. Chromatographic separation techniques: a. Paper chromatography (PC) and thin-layer chromatography (TLC). b. Column chromatography (CC). c. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC): Components and derivatization in HPLC analysis; d. Gas chromatography (GC): Description of the chromatographic process and system components; derivatization in GC analysis. e. Enantioselective chromatographic separation.
7. Hyphenated techniques: High-performance liquid chromatography and photodiode array detector (HPLC-DAD); -performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS); Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS).
8. Instrumental characterization and analysis techniques: a. Mass spectrometry: introduction, instrumentation; ionization methods; analyzers; interpretation of mass spectra, identification of the molecular ion peak, nitrogen rule, isotopic abundance; applications in pharmaceutical analysis: examples. b. Spectroscopic analysis – IR absorption spectroscopy: General principles, mechanical and quantum-mechanical models of a diatomic molecule; vibrational modes of polyatomic molecules; theoretical and real number IR bands; factors influencing the IR resonance frequency; dispersive and interference IR spectrophotometers; Michelson interferometer; sample preparation; interpretation of IR spectra; intensity and shape of a band; characteristic bands of major functional groups; reading of selected IR spectra. c. Spectroscopic analysis – NMR spectroscopy: Introduction, overview of instrumentation; solvents for NMR and sample preparation; 1H NMR spectra: Prediction of the number of signals in a spectrum; chemical shift and factors influencing it, TMS as reference, choice of measurement units; signal intensity, peak integral, and examples of H number calculation; spin-spin coupling: spin systems with two sets of non-equivalent nuclei; first-order and higher-order spectra; analysis of multiplets; aliphatic, vinylic, and aromatic systems; deuterium exchange. 13C NMR: overview. c. Classroom exercises on IR and NMR spectroscopy involving active student participation.
Laboratory sessions focused on topics covered during lectures.

- Caliendo, G. Manuale di Analisi Qualitativa, Ed. EdiSES: For separation and purification methods, molecular and structural analysis
- Cavrini, V.; Andrisano, V. Principi di Analisi Farmaceutica, Ed. Esculapio: For chromatography and coupled techniques
- Silverstein, R. M.; Webster, F. X.; Kiemle, D. J.; Bryce, D. L. Identificazione Spettrometrica di Composti Organici, Ed. Ambrosiana: For mass spectrometry, for IR and NMR spectroscopy
- Chiappe, C.; D’Andrea, F. Tecniche Spettroscopiche e Identificazione di Composti Organici, Ed. ETS: For mass spectrometry, for IR and NMR spectroscopy
- Carrieri, A. Manuale di Analisi Quantitativa dei Medicinali, Ed. EdiSES: For chromatography and for the spectrometric identification of organic compounds