Chemistry

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Are you interested in a degree in chemistry? By studying chemistry, you will gain fundamental insight into chemical compounds with applications ranging from medicine, catalysis and alternative energy sources. Maybe you want to understand more about global environmental issues affecting today's society or develop better systems for pollution control. Accept the challenge and join us in creating a better future.

The international MSc in Chemistry is a new master programme with the first possible admission autumn 2014.

Course Objectives The 2-year programme in chemistry gives students academic specialization within topics such as Applied theoretical chemistry, Organic chemistry or Structural chemistry. The objective of the programme is to educate chemists who are able to work independently with chemistry at a high level.

Through lectures, laboratory work, exercises, project work, excursions, and an independent master's thesis you will gain knowledge about relevant working methods for research, industry, administration, and education. The Master's degree program in Chemistry also forms the foundation for doctoral programs in Chemistry.

The two-year Master's degree programme in chemistry provides academic specialization within the following areas:

* Applied theoretical chemistry
* Organic chemistry
* Structural chemistry

Job prospectsThe goal of the MSc in Chemistry is to educate highly qualified chemists able to work independently with chemistry related issues at an advanced level. This will make you an attractive employee in a wide variety of fields.

By majoring in chemistry, you obtain knowledge about several issues important in today's society, such as environmental issues or developing new sources of energy, which will can lead to exiting and meaningful jobs. Today we find chemists in many fields including; industry, research, central and local government administrations and in teaching covering a wide range of specified topics. Within research, you can work at universities, different kinds of research institutes like SINTEF or in industry.

Examples of jobs that would be relevant for you with an MSc in Chemistry:

* Research position at Statoil, Reinertsen Engineering, Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt, SINTEF, Borregaard, Chiron, Alpharma, GE Healthcare, Axis-Shield, Statens legemiddelverk
* Research positions at universities in Norway or international universities
* Product managers in Sigma-Aldrich and VWR
* Laboratory managers in Napro-Pharma and Norsk Hydro
* Laboratory positions in hospitals and pharmacy companies
* Consultant positions in companies like Norconsult and Rambøll
* Teachers in high schools and colleges

The programme requires two years of full-time study, beginning with the autumn term (mid August). The normal workload for a full-time student for one academic year is 60 ECTS credits.

There are two main components to the Masters programme:

* Masters thesis (60 ECTS credits)
* Theoretical and methodological courses, some compulsory and some elective (60 ECTS credits)

Compulsory courses:

* Experts in team work (7,5) (Spring)
* KJ3091 Special syllabus for Master's degree (7,5) (Last semester)

Elective courses: There are recommended elective courses for each specialization. At least 30 ECTS credits of courses must be at the master level (3000-level), and the courses are chosen in collaboration with the academic supervisor and the administration at the Department of Chemistry.

The different specializations are: * Applied theoretical chemistry
* Organic chemistry
* Structural chemistry

Important: Students majoring in Environmental and Analytical Chemistry and wants to proceed this specialisation should apply for the master's programme MSc in Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

Applied Theoretical Chemistry- SpecialisationApplied theoretical chemistry is a field that covers many different areas. Common to these areas within chemistry is that they employ theoretical models, simulations and calculations to describe and predict chemical phenomena.

In basic research, theoretical models are important because many of the interesting aspects take place on a scale that prevents the use of experimental tools. For example in quantum chemistry, the developement of computational methods has reached a level where we can achieve higher accuracy in calculations, than what is possible in spectroscopic experiments.

Also in the industry, the interest for theoretical methods is significant. By using simulations and modelling one can achieve increased insight into chemical processes and systems that can be harnessed, while avoiding expensive and time-consuming experiments.

Working with applied theoretical chemistry, you will have the opportunity to investigate a broad range of chemical systems through a variety of methods and angles. Regardless of the branch of applied theoretical chemistry one belongs to, a theoretical investigation follows a relatively similar procedure:

* Development of a mathematical model that describes the chemistry of interest
* Implementation of the mathematical model on a computer
* Applying the software to investigate a relevant system
* Analyze and process the large amounts of data generated

Students in our group can choose to focus on one or more of the steps in this chain. The knowledge and skills acquired are valuable in industry and research within all fields of interest.

Recommended elective courses:

* TKJ4170 Quantum chemistry
* TKJ4175 Chemometrics
* TKJ4200 Irreversible thermodynamics
* TKJ4205 Molecular modelling
* TKJ4215 Statistical thermodynamics in chemistry and biology
* KJ3022 Spectroscopic methods in organic chemistry, advanced course
* KJ3053 Analytical methods for industrial and environmental monitoring
* TKP4175 Thermodynamic methods
* TFY4205 Quantum mechanics II
* TFY4210 Quantum theory of many-particle systems
* TFY4235 Computational physics
* TFY4255 Materials physics
* TFY4275 Classical transport theory
* TFY4280 Signal processing
* TFY4292 Quantum optics
* TFY4340 Mesoscopic physics
* TFY4345 Classical mechanics
* TMA4145 Linear methods
* TMA4205 Numerical linear algebra
* TMA4300 Computer intensive statistical methods

Organic Chemistry- SpecialisationOrganic chemistry is the study of structures, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials.

The range of applications of organic compounds is enormous and organic chemistry overlaps with many areas, including medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, organometallic chemistry, polymer chemistry and many aspects of materials science. Thus, in the modern society, knowledge within organic chemistry is required within a wide range of disciplines, as demonstrated by the fact that organic synthetic products serve as e.g. plastics, drugs, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, nano-molecular devices, food additives, pigments, flavorings, fibers, clothing, petrochemicals, explosives and paints. Additionally, organic chemistry deals with life and life processes, being associated with nearly every aspect of our existence. All the key molecules of life, such as DNA, proteins, lipids and carbohydrates, are organic compounds, furnishing the energy that sustains life.

Organic chemistry traditionally includes the chemistry of fuels. Currently, the activity is increasingly connected to energy related sciences, such as energy capture and storage. Due to environmental problems arising by unwanted consequences of organic chemicals previously introduced to the environment, the development of environment-friendly (sustainable) processes has become an interesting and challenging field of organic chemistry.

Key subtopics presently covered by the activity at the Section of Organic Chemistry includes catalysis, organometallic chemistry, chemistry of polyenes, chemo- regio- and enantioselective synthesis, heterocyclic chemistry, fluoro-containing compounds and NMR. The application of analytical tools, such as advanced NMR and other spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques are important components of all these research activities.

Some current research projects are: Development of new cancer treatment agents by kinase inhibition;
Synthesis of anti-bacterial agents based on marine natural products;
Synthesis of polyenes, modification of polyenes, polyenes as gene carriers;
Gold catalysed chemo-, regio- and enantioselective synthesis;
Enzyme catalysed chemo-, regio- and enantioselective synthesis;
New anti-inflammatory compounds from plant.

Through a master in Organic Chemistry, you will get an excellent knowledge of modern theoretical and experimental organic chemistry. Your master project will give you a solid background for planning and applying a variety of organic synthetic methods in experimental research projects. You will gain experience in how the outcome, yields and selectivity of your reactions may be improved by optimization of reaction conditions. Additionally, your investigations will give you important mechanistic understanding of the theoretical basis of organic processes.

Today, NTNU is the university in Norway educating most organic chemists, being regarded as skillful synthetic chemists and well trained within analytical organic chemistry. Organic chemists from NTNU work within industry, research and administration both in Norway and abroad.

Recommended elective courses:

* KJ3021 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
* TKJ4155 Organic Synthesis II
* TKJ4180 Physical Organic Chemistry
* TKJ4175 Chemometrics
* KJ3059 Chromatography, Advanced Course
* TKJ4205 Molecular Modelling
* TKP4110 Chemical Reaction Engineering
* TKP4115 Surface and Colloid Chemistry
* TKP4155 Reaction Kinetics and Catalysis

Structural Chemistry- SpecialisationIn inorganic Structural Chemistry, we study the structure of advanced materials and their many interesting applications for important processes in today's society.

At the Department of Chemistry we have focused our activities within what is commonly referred to as Materials Science, and relevant topics for a master thesis are structural studies of advanced functional materials. This means that we produce new materials such as the super-hydrophobic aerogels, currently used in space suits, or hierarchical zeotypes with mesopores functioning as super highways to transport gas molecules to micro-reactors inside the material.

The structures of these materials give them unique properties as molecular sieves with functional surface or metal sites interesting for catalytic processes. We are currently studying new materials for catalytic conversion of diesel exhaust such as copper aerogels, and the use of bimetallic copper and gold nanoparticles in hierarchical zeotypes for the industrial process of selectively oxidization of propene.

Our goal is to develop synthesis routes for new exciting materials and then characterize these systems to obtain a fundamental understanding of the structure, and then explore their behavior during realistic working conditions. The materials are therefore characterized using a range of techniques, which you will be trained in. Our research lab houses an FT-IR coupled to a GC-MS and a catalysis rig for fundamental studies of these materials.

Our group is experienced in X-ray absorption spectroscopy, a technique which requires synchrotron radiation. We frequently travel to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble an international state of the art research facility supported and shared by 18 countries. Synchrotron techniques represent an important tool-kit for studying nanoparticles and functional materials under operating conditions and the techniques available at the Swiss - Norwegian beamlines (SNBL) at ESRF are crucial for our projects.
Previous MSc candidates in this group often continue with research at Universities or Institutes such as SINTEF, or start working in industries such as Life Technologies, Reinertsen, Statoil and GE Healtcare.

Recommended courses:

* TKP4155 Reaction kinetics and catalysis
* TMT4320 Nanomaterials
* TKP4190 Fabrication and applications of nanomaterials
* TKP4515 Catalysis and petrochemistry, specialization course
* KJ3022 Spectroscopic methods in organic chemistry, advanced course
* TKJ4175 Chemometrics
* TKJ4200 Irreversible thermodynamics
* TKJ4205 Molecular modelling
* TMT4145 Ceramic engineering
* TMT4285 Hydrogen technology, fuel cells and solar cells
* TKP4130 Polymer chemistry
* TKP4150 Petrochemistry and oil refining

For students with a bachelor's degree from outside NTNU, the following admission requirements apply: Bachelor in Chemistry (minimum of 80 ECTS credits chemistry courses), including basic courses in general, organic, inorganic, physical and analytical chemistry. You must have good practical skills in the chemistry lab, and sufficient knowledge of experimental methods relevant for your specialization (for example chromatography and/or spectroscopy). It's also important that you have experience with writing scientific reports. In addition, applicants must have basic knowledge in mathematics and physics. Background in statistics is recommended.The specializations are: * Organic chemistry * Applied theoretical chemistry * Structural chemistry The admission process and subsequent area of specialization will be based on individual evaluation of your academic background. English Language Requirements IELTS band: 6.5 TOEFL iBT® test: 90

NTNU charges no tuition fees, but regulations from the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration state that

all international students who are not citizens of EU/EEA/EFTA countries must document that they have enough money to live in Norway. For the 2017 intake this amount is NOK 103 950. Successful applicants who are given an offer of admission will later be asked to transfer this amount to NTNU's deposit account. 

NTNU offers no scholarships.