Chemistry (CHEM)
6 units: Thermodynamics, Equilibrium, Redox Reactions, Organic Chemistry: Some Basic Principles, Hydrocarbons.
Detailed syllabus
Unit 1: Thermodynamics (12 hours, 7 marks)
System and surroundings, work, heat, energy, extensive and intensive properties, state functions, zeroth law, first law (ΔU and ΔH), enthalpies of bond dissociation, combustion, formation, atomisation, ionisation, solution and sublimation, Hess's law, Born-Haber cycle, second law, entropy, Gibbs energy and spontaneity, criteria for equilibrium.
Unit 2: Equilibrium (10 hours, 6 marks)
Equilibrium in physical and chemical processes, law of mass action, equilibrium constant, Le Chatelier's principle; ionic equilibrium, ionisation of acids and bases, strong and weak electrolytes, polybasic acids, acid strength, pH, Henderson equation, hydrolysis of salts, buffer solutions, solubility product, common ion effect.
Unit 3: Redox Reactions (5 hours, 3 marks)
Oxidation and reduction, oxidation number, balancing redox reactions, applications in permanganometry and dichromatometry.
Unit 4: Organic Chemistry: Some Basic Principles (12 hours, 7 marks)
Classification and IUPAC nomenclature of organic compounds; inductive effect, resonance and hyperconjugation; homolytic and heterolytic fission, free radicals, carbocations, carbanions, electrophiles and nucleophiles; types of organic reactions (addition, elimination, substitution).
Unit 5: Hydrocarbons (14 hours, 8 marks)
Alkanes: nomenclature, isomerism, conformations of ethane, halogenation and free-radical mechanism, combustion, pyrolysis. Alkenes: structure, geometrical isomerism, preparation, addition reactions (Markovnikov and peroxide effect), ozonolysis, electrophilic addition mechanism. Alkynes: structure, preparation, acidic character, addition reactions. Aromatic hydrocarbons: benzene, aromaticity, electrophilic substitution (nitration, sulphonation, halogenation, Friedel-Crafts), carcinogenicity.
Unit 6: Environmental Chemistry (7 hours, 4 marks)
Air, water and soil pollution, primary and secondary pollutants, atmospheric reactions, smog, industrial waste, solid waste management, SPM and RSPM, green chemistry, water preservation, control of pollution.
Source: official document