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Chemistry Major Requirements
The following courses or their equivalents are required for the degree program in Chemistry:- General Chemistry
- Organic Chemistry
- Physical Chemistry
- Analytical Chemistry
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Calculus
- Physics
- Recommended Electives
CHEM 1111 and 1131, 10 credit hours, or Honors CHEM 1151 and 1171, 10 credit hours.
CHEM 1051 and 1071 cannot be substituted for these requirements. Students who transfer to Arts and Sciences after having taken General Chemistry for Engineers, CHEN1211 and CHEM 1221, should consider those courses to be the equivalent of CHEM 1111 and should take CHEM 1131 to complete their general chemistry requirement.
Lecture: CHEM 3351 and CHEM 3371, 8 credit hours.
Lab: CHEM 3361 and CHEM 3381, 4 credit hours.
Organic lecture and lab must be taken together. Chemistry majors who need to take organic chemistry in the off semester or during the summer will have to take the nonmajors lecture and lab. CHEM 3311 and 3331 will satisfy the organic lecture requirement. However, chemistry majors with CHEM 3321 and CHEM 3341 normally take CHEM 3381, 2 credits, to complete the organic lab requirement. A possible alternative is independent study in an organic research lab or CHEM 4021, inorganic lab. Students who have not yet decided whether to major in chemistry or in biochemistry should take CHEM 3381 rather than CHEM 3321-3341.
Lecture: CHEM 4511 or 4411 and CHEM 4531 or 4431, 6 credits.
Lab: CHEM 4581 and 4591, 3 credits.
Physical chemistry lecture and lab should be taken together. PHYS 1120 is a corequisite and MATH 2400 a prerequisite for CHEM 4511 or 4411. If in doubt about the selection of alternates, consult an advisor for course perspectives. CHEM 4521 can not be used to satisfy the major’s physical chemistry requirement.
CHEM 4171 (Instrumental Analysis) and CHEM 4181 (Environmemtal Analysis Lab), 6 credit hours. CHEM 3331 or 3351is a prerequisite. CHEM 4171 is a prerequsite for CHEM 4181. CHEM 4171 is normally taught in the fall and CHEM 4181 is normally taught only in the Spring semester. CHEM 4181 fulfills the Critical Thinking CORE requirement.
CHEM 4011, 3 credit hours.
CHEM 4411 or 4511 is a prerequisite. This requirement does not apply to students who entered CU, Boulder, in Spring '93 or earlier. CHEM 4011 is normally taught only in the Fall semester.
A & S Calculus, MATH 1300, 2300 and 2400, 14 credit hours or Engineering Calculus, APPM 1350, 1360 and 2350, 12 credit hours (or a combination of these sequences).
Students need MATH 1150 or a strong high school math background in algebra and trigonometry to start either of these sequences.
PHYS 1110, 1120 and 1140, 9 credit hours.
A student who has taken PHYS 2010 and 2020, courses not requiring calculus, must make up the deficiency by completing PHYS 2130. Chemistry majors should consider Calculus I (MATH 1300) as a prerequisite and Calculus II (MATH 2300) as a corequisite for PHYS 1110.
Independent study, CHEM 4901; Inorganic Synthesis Lab, CHEM 4021; Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Biosphere, CHEM 4901; Biochemistry, CHEM 4611, or CHEM 4711 and 4731; Advanced Analytical Chemistry, CHEM 5161 or 5181; Advanced Organic Chemistry, CHEM 5311.
Minimum grade standards:
Although a D is considered a passing grade, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry will accept no grade below C- among the required CHEM courses and at most one D or D+ among all the required ancillary courses, i.e. in required math, physics, and biology courses. Grades of D- or F are not acceptable. In addition, the College of Arts and Sciences requires at least 30 hours of C- or better in the major and requires an average GPA of 2.00 or higher in all classes attempted in the major department. Any student who gets below a C- in a required course is encouraged to repeat the course to learn the material better, even if the grade could be counted.
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