Aims

At the end of this course, the students should be able to propose a method of extraction and purification of different classes of organic compounds from complex mixtures and determine the structure of simple organic molecules from spectroscopic data.

Main themes

- Extraction, fractionation and purification methods for compounds present in complex mixtures
- Mass spectrometry: ionisation techniques, analysis of ions and main fragmentation pathways
- Principles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
- Use of spectral data for structure determination of organic drugs

Content and teaching methods

The course is divided in 4 parts:
1. Extraction, purification and fractionation methods of organic molecules from complex mixtures: solid phase, supercritical fluid and liquid-liquid extractions, preparative chromatographies on different supports (silica, bounded or not, polymers, molecular sieves, affinity chromatography): practical aspects, advantages and draw-backs of the different methods. Students will receive notes and an ex cathedra course followed by discussions and questions-answers seminars.
2. Mass spectrometry: ionisation techniques (EI, FAB, CID, ESP, TSP, APCI,…), analytical methods (ion trap, quadrupolar, magnetic equipments) and main fragmentations
3. Essential principles of NMR allowing students to determine simple structures from 1H and 13C NMR spectra. 2D-NMR will also be presented.
4. Directed works-case study: structure determination from spectroscopic data.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Evaluation:
Students will have to determine the structure of a simple organic molecule from spectra, explain and comment a publication dealing with purification of a natural compound.
This last part will be prepared at home and presented orally.
A theoric exam will also be organised for the mass spectra part