CHEMISTRY (CY)

Basic Mathematical Concepts (10+2 Level):

Functions; maxima and minima; integrals; ordinary differential equations; vectors and
matrices; determinants; elementary statistics.

Physical Chemistry
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Atomic and Molecular Structure:

Planck’s black body radiation, Photoelectric effect, Bohr’s theory, de Broglie postulate,
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle; Schrödinger’s wave equation (including
mathematical treatment), postulates of quantum mechanics, normalized and
orthogonal wave functions, its complex conjugate (idea of complex numbers) and
significance of Ѱ2; Operators; Particle in one- dimension box, radial and angular wave
functions for hydrogen atom, radial probability distribution; Finding maxima of
distribution functions (idea of maxima and minima), energy spectrum of hydrogen atom;
Shapes of s, p, d and f orbitals; Pauli’s Exclusion Principle; Hund’s rule of maximum
multiplicity.
Gaseous State:
Kinetic molecular model of a gas: collision frequency; collision diameter; mean free
path and viscosity of gases; Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution: molecular velocities, law
of equipartition of energy, molecular basis of heat capacities; Ideal gases, and
deviations from ideal gas behaviour, van der Waals equation of state; critical state, law
of corresponding states.
Liquid State:
Physical properties of Liquid, vapour pressure, surface tension and co-efficient of
viscosity and their applications; effect of concentration of solutes on surface tension
and viscosity; effect of temperature on viscosity of liquids.
Solid State:
Unit Cells, Miller indices, crystal systems and Bravais Lattices, elementary applications
of vectors to crystal systems; X-ray diffraction, Bragg’s Law, Structure of NaCl, CsCl,
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and KCl, diamond, and graphite; Close packing in metals and metal compounds,
semiconductors, insulators; Defects in crystals, lattice energy; isomorphism; heat
capacity of solids.
Chemical Thermodynamics:
Mathematical treatment: Exact and in-exact differentials, partial derivatives, Euler’s
reciprocity, cyclic rule; Reversible and irreversible processes; Laws of
thermodynamics, thermochemistry, thermodynamic functions, such as enthalpy,
entropy, and Gibbs free energy, their properties and applications; Partial molar
quantities, dependence of thermodynamic parameters on composition, Gibbs Duhem
equation, chemical potential and its applications.
Chemical and Phase Equilibria:
Law of mass action; Kp, Kc, Kx and Kn; Effect of temperature on K; Le-Chatelier
principle; Ionic equilibria in solutions; pH and buffer solutions; Salt hydrolysis; Solubility
and solubility product; Acid – base titration curves; Indicators; Dilute solutions; Raoult’s
and Henry’s Laws and their applications; Colligative properties; Gibbs phase rule;
Phase equilibria; single and two- component phase diagrams.

Electrochemistry:
Conductivity, equivalent and molar conductivity and their properties; Kohlrausch law;
DebyeHückel-Onsager equation; Ionic velocities, mobilities, transference numbers;
Applications of conductance measurement; Quantitative aspects of Faraday’s laws of
electrolysis, applications of electrolysis in metallurgy and industry; Electromotive force

JAM-2025
of a cell, Nernst equation; Standard electrode potential, Electrochemical series;
Concentration cells with and without transference; Applications of EMF measurements
including potentiometric titrations.

Chemical Kinetics:

Order and molecularity of a reaction, differential and integrated form of rate

expressions; Kinetics of opposing, parallel, and consecutive reactions; Steady state
approximation in reaction mechanisms; Chain reactions; Uni-molecular reaction
(Lindemann mechanism); Temperature dependence of reaction rates, Arrhenius
equation; activation energy; Collision theory of reaction rates; Types of catalysts,
specificity and selectivity, mechanisms of catalyzed reactions at solid surfaces;

MATHEMATICS
Enzyme catalysis (Michaelis-Menten mechanism, Double reciprocal plot), Acid-base
catalysis.
Adsorption:
Gibbs adsorption equation; adsorption isotherm; types of adsorption; surface area of
adsorbents; surface films on liquids.
Spectroscopy:
Beer-Lambert’s law; fundamental concepts of rotational, vibrational, electronic and
magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Organic Chemistry
Basic Concepts in Organic Chemistry and Stereochemistry:
Electronic effects (resonance, inductive, hyperconjugation) and steric effects and its
applications (acid/base property); optical isomerism in compounds with and without
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any stereocenters (allenes, biphenyls); conformation of acyclic systems (substituted

ethane/n-propane/n-butane) and cyclic systems, substituted cyclohexanes, and
polycyclic (cis and trans decalins) systems.
Organic Reaction Mechanism and Synthetic Applications:
Chemistry of reactive intermediates (carbocations, carbanions, free radicals, carbenes,
nitrenes, benzynes); nucleophilic substitution, elimination reactions and mechanisms;
Hofmann-Curtius- Lossen rearrangement, Wolff rearrangement, Simmons-Smith
reaction, Reimer-Tiemann reaction, Michael reaction, Darzens reaction, Wittig reaction
and McMurry reaction; Pinacolpinacolone, Favorskii, benzilic acid rearrangement,
Baeyer-Villeger reaction; oxidation and reduction reactions in organic chemistry;
Organometallic reagents in organic synthesis (Grignard, organolithium , organocopper
and organozinc (Reformatsky only); Diels-Alder, electrocyclic and sigmatropic
reactions; functional group inter-conversions and structural problems using chemical
reactions.
 Qualitative Organic Analysis:
Identification of functional groups by chemical tests; elementary UV, IR and 1H NMR
spectroscopic techniques as tools for structural elucidation of simple organic
molecules.

Natural Products Chemistry:

Chemistry of alkaloids, steroids, terpenes, carbohydrates, amino acids, peptides and
nucleic acids.
Aromatic and Heterocyclic Chemistry:
Monocyclic, bicyclic and tricyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and monocyclic compounds
with one hetero atom: synthesis, reactivity and properties, aromaticity; Electrophilic and
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nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions.

Inorganic Chemistry

Periodic Table:
Periodic classification of elements, Aufbau’s principle, periodicity; Variations of orbital
energy, effective nuclear charge, atomic, covalent, and ionic radii, ionization enthalpy,
electron gain enthalpy, and electronegativity with atomic number, electronic
configuration of diatomic molecules (first and second row elements).

Extractions of Metals:

General methods of isolation and purification of elements; Principles and

applications of
Ellingham diagram.
Chemical Bonding and shapes of molecules:

lonic bond: Packing of ions in crystals, radius ratio rule, Born-Landé equation,
Kapustinskii expression, Madelung constant, Born-Haber cycle, solvation energy,
polarizing power and polarizability; Fajan’s rules; Covalent bond: Lewis structure,
valence bond theory. Hybridization, molecular orbital theory, molecular orbital
diagrams of diatomic and simple polyatomic molecules and ions; Multiple bonding (𝜎
and 𝜋 bond approach) and bond lengths; van der Waals forces, ion-dipole forces,
dipole-dipole interactions, induced dipole interactions, instantaneous dipole- induced
dipole interactions, hydrogen bonding; Effect of intermolecular forces on melting and
boiling points, solubility energetics of dissolution process; Bond dipole, dipole moment,
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and molecular polarizabilities; VSEPR theory and shapes of molecules; ionic solids.
Main Group Elements (s and p blocks):
Reactions of alkali and alkaline earth metals with oxygen, hydrogen and water; Alkali
and alkaline earth metals in liquid ammonia; Gradation in properties of main group
element in a group; Inert pair effect; Synthesis, structure and properties of diborane,
ammonia, silane, phosphine and hydrogen sulphide; Allotropes of carbon; Oxides of
nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur; Oxoacids of phosphorus, sulphur and chlorine;
Halides of silicon and phosphorus; Synthesis and properties of borazine, silicone and
phosphazene; Synthesis and reactions of xenon fluorides.
Transition Metals (d block):
Characteristics of d-block elements; oxide, hydroxide and salts of first row metals;
coordination complexes: structure, isomerism, reaction mechanism and electronic
spectra; VB, MO and crystal field theoretical approaches for structure, color and
magnetic properties of metal complexes; Organometallic compounds with metal-ligand
single and multiple bonds (such as metal carbonyls, metal nitrosyls and metallocenes);
Homogenous catalysis involving Wilkinson’s catalyst.

Bioinorganic Chemistry:

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Essentials and trace elements of life; basic reactions in the biological systems and the
role of metal ions, especially Fe2+, and Zn2+; structure and function of myoglobin,
hemoglobin and carbonic anhydrase.
Instrumental Methods of Analysis:
Basic principles; instrumentations and simple applications of conductometry,
potentiometry and UV-vis spectrophotometry; analyses of water, air and soil samples.
Analytical Chemistry:
Principles of qualitative and quantitative analysis; Acid-base, oxidation- reduction and
complexometric titrations using EDTA; Precipitation reactions; Use and types of

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indicators; Use of organic reagents in inorganic analysis; Radioactivity, nuclear
reactions, applications of isotopes; Mathematical treatment in error analysis,
elementary statistics and probability theory.

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 CY Chemistry

Section 1: Physical Chemistry

Structure: Postulates of quantum mechanics. Operators. Time dependent and time

independent Schrödinger equations. Born interpretation. Dirac bra-ket notation. Particle in a
box: infinite and finite square wells; concept of tunnelling; particle in 1D, 2D and 3D-box;
applications. Harmonic oscillator: harmonic and anharmonic potentials; hermite polynomials.
Rotational motion: Angular momentum operators, Rigid rotor. Hydrogen and hydrogen-like
atoms: atomic orbitals; radial distribution function. Multi-electron atoms: orbital approximation;
electron spin; Pauli exclusion principle; slater determinants. Approximation Methods: Variation
method and secular determinants; first order perturbation techniques. Atomic units. Molecular
structure and Chemical bonding: Born-Oppenheimer approximation; Valence bond theory and
linear combination of atomic orbitals – molecular orbital (LCAO-MO) theory. Hybrid orbitals.
Applications of LCAO-MO theory to H2+, H2; orbital theory (MOT) of homo- and heteronuclear
diatomic molecules. Hückel approximation and its application to annular π – electron systems.

Group theory: Symmetry elements and operations; Point groups and character tables; Internal
coordinates and vibrational modes; symmetry adapted linear combination of atomic orbitals
(LCAO-MO); construction of hybrid orbitals using symmetry aspects.

Spectroscopy: Atomic spectroscopy; Russell-Saunders coupling; Term symbols and spectral

details; origin of selection rules. Rotational, vibrational, electronic and Raman spectroscopy
of diatomic and polyatomic molecules. Line broadening. Einstein’s coefficients. Relationship
of transition moment integral with molar extinction coefficient and oscillator strength. Basic
principles of nuclear magnetic resonance: gyromagnetic ratio; chemical shift, nuclear coupling.

Equilibrium: Laws of thermodynamics. Standard states. Thermochemistry. Thermodynamic

functions and their relationships: Gibbs-Helmholtz and Maxwell relations, Gibbs-Duhem
equation, van’t Hoff equation. Criteria of spontaneity and equilibrium. Absolute entropy. Partial
molar quantities. Thermodynamics of mixing. Chemical potential. Fugacity, activity and activity
coefficients. Ideal and Non-ideal solutions, Raoult’s Law and Henry’s Law, Chemical equilibria.
Dependence of equilibrium constant on temperature and pressure. Ionic mobility and
conductivity. Debye-Hückel limiting law. Debye-Hückel-Onsager equation. Standard electrode
potentials and electrochemical cells. Nernst Equation and its application, relationship between
Electrode potential and thermodynamic quantities, Potentiometric and conduct metric
titrations. Phase rule. Clausius- Clapeyron equation. Phase diagram of one component
systems: CO2, H2O, S; two component systems: liquid- vapour, liquid-liquid and solid-liquid
systems. Fractional distillation. Azeotropes and eutectics. Statistical thermodynamics: micro
canonical, canonical and grand canonical ensembles, Boltzmann distribution, partition
functions and thermodynamic properties.

Kinetics (Topic has been rearranged): Elementary, parallel, opposing and consecutive
reactions. Steady state approximation. Mechanisms of complex reactions. Unimolecular
reactions. Potential energy surfaces and classical trajectories, Concept of Saddle points,
Transition state theory: Eyring equation, thermodynamic aspects. Kinetics of polymerization.
Catalysis concepts and enzyme catalysis. Kinetic isotope effects. Fast reaction kinetics:
relaxation and flow methods. Diffusion controlled reactions. Kinetics of photochemical and
photo physical processes.
Surfaces and Interfaces: Physisorption and chemisorption. Langmuir, Freundlich and
Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) isotherms. Surface catalysis: Langmuir-Hinshelwood
mechanism. Surface tension, viscosity. Self-assembly. Physical chemistry of colloids, micelles
and macromolecules.

Section 2: Inorganic Chemistry

Main Group Elements: Hydrides, halides, oxides, oxoacids, nitrides, sulfides – shapes and
reactivity. Structure and bonding of boranes, carboranes, silicones, silicates, boron nitride,
borazines and phosphazenes. Allotropes of carbon, phosphorous and sulphur. Industrial
synthesis of compounds of main group elements. Chemistry of noble gases, pseudohalogens,
and interhalogen compounds. Acid-base concepts and principles (Lewis, Brønsted, HSAB and
acid-base catalysis).

Transition Elements: Coordination chemistry – structure and isomerism, theories of bonding

(VBT, CFT, and MOT). Energy level diagrams in various crystal fields, CFSE, applications of
CFT, Jahn-Teller distortion. Electronic spectra of transition metal complexes: spectroscopic
term symbols, selection rules, Orgel and Tanabe-Sugano diagrams, nephelauxetic effect and
Racah parameter, charge-transfer spectra. Magnetic properties of transition metal complexes.
Ray-Dutt and Bailar twists, Reaction mechanisms: kinetic and thermodynamic stability,
substitution and redox reactions. Metal-metal multiple bond.

Lanthanides and Actinides: Recovery. Periodic properties, spectra and magnetic properties.

Organometallics: 18-Electron rule; metal-alkyl, metal-carbonyl, metal-olefin and metal-

carbene complexes and metallocenes. Fluxionality in organometallic complexes. Types of
organometallic reactions. Homogeneous catalysis - Hydrogenation, hydroformylation, acetic
acid synthesis, metathesis and olefin oxidation. Heterogeneous catalysis - Fischer- Tropsch
reaction, Ziegler-Natta polymerization.

Radioactivity: Detection of radioactivity, Decay processes, half-life of radioactive elements,

fission and fusion processes.

Bioinorganic Chemistry: Ion (Na+ and K+) transport, oxygen binding, transport and utilization,
electron transfer reactions, nitrogen fixation, metalloenzymes containing magnesium,
molybdenum, iron, cobalt, copper and zinc.

Solids: Crystal systems and lattices, Miller planes, crystal packing, crystal defects, Bragg’s
law, ionic crystals, structures of AX, AX2, ABX3 type compounds, spinels, band theory, metals
and semiconductors.

Instrumental Methods of Analysis: UV-visible, fluorescence and FTIR spectrophotometry,

NMR and ESR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, atomic absorption spectroscopy,
Mössbauer spectroscopy (Fe and Sn) and X-ray crystallography. Chromatography including
GC and HPLC. Electroanalytical methods- polarography, cyclic voltammetry, ion-selective
electrodes. Thermoanalytical methods.
Section 3: Organic Chemistry

Stereochemistry: Chirality and symmetry of organic molecules with or without chiral centres
and determination of their absolute configurations. Relative stereochemistry in compounds
having more than one stereogenic centre. Homotopic, enantiotopic and diastereotopic atoms,
groups and faces. Stereoselective and stereospecific synthesis. Conformational analysis of
acyclic and cyclic compounds. Geometrical isomerism and optical isomerism. Configurational
and conformational effects, atropisomerism, and neighbouring group participation on reactivity
and selectivity/specificity.

Reaction Mechanisms: Basic mechanistic concepts – kinetic versus thermodynamic control,

Hammond’s postulate and Curtin-Hammett principle. Methods of determining reaction
mechanisms through kinetics, identification of products, intermediates and isotopic labelling.
Linear free-energy relationship – Hammett and Taft equations. Nucleophilic and electrophilic
substitution reactions (both aromatic and aliphatic). Addition reactions to carbon-carbon and
carbon-heteroatom (N and O) multiple bonds. Elimination reactions. Reactive intermediates –
carbocations, carbanions, carbenes, nitrenes, arynes and free radicals. Molecular
rearrangements.

Organic Synthesis: Synthesis, reactions, mechanisms and selectivity involving the following
classes of compounds – alkenes, alkynes, arenes, alcohols, phenols, aldehydes, ketones,
carboxylic acids, esters, nitriles, halides, nitro compounds, amines and amides. Uses of Mg,
Li, Cu, B, Zn, P, S, Sn and Si based reagents in organic synthesis. Carbon-carbon bond
formation through coupling reactions - Heck, Suzuki, Stille, Sonogoshira, Negishi, Kumada,
Hiyama, Tsuji-Trost, olefin metathesis and McMurry. Concepts of multistep synthesis -
retrosynthetic analysis, strategic disconnections, synthons and synthetic equivalents. Atom
economy and Green Chemistry, Umpolung reactivity – formyl and acyl anion equivalents.
Selectivity in organic synthesis – chemo-, regio- and stereoselectivity. Protection and
deprotection of functional groups. Concepts of asymmetric synthesis – resolution (including
enzymatic), desymmetrization and use of chiral auxiliaries, organocatalysis. Carbon-carbon
and carbon-heteroatom bond forming reactions through enolates (including boron enolates),
enamines and silyl enol ethers. Stereoselective addition to C=O groups (Cram, Prelog and
Felkin-Anh models).

Pericyclic Reactions and Photochemistry: Electrocyclic, cycloaddition and sigmatropic

reactions. Orbital correlations - FMO and PMO treatments, Woodward-Hoffmann rule.
Photochemistry of alkenes, arenes and carbonyl compounds. Photooxidation and
photoreduction. Di-π-methane rearrangement, Barton-McCombie reaction, Norrish type-I and
II cleavage reaction.

Heterocyclic Compounds: Structure, preparation, properties and reactions of furan, pyrrole,

thiophene, pyridine, indole, quinoline and isoquinoline.

Biomolecules: Structure, properties and reactions of mono- and di-saccharides,

physicochemical properties of amino acids, chemical synthesis of peptides, chemical structure
determination of peptides and proteins, structural features of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids,
steroids, terpenoids, carotenoids, and alkaloids.
Experimental techniques in organic chemistry: Optical rotation (polarimetry).
Applications of various chromatographic techniques such as thin-layer, column,
HPLC and GC. Applications of UV-visible, IR, NMR and Mass spectrometry in the
structural determination of organic
molecules.