CHEM 3431 — Physical Chemistry

4 semester hoursUndergraduateLectureusually offered: fall, springtypical days: M/W/ThBostonTraditional

Offers an in-depth survey of physical chemistry. Emphasizes applications in modern research, including examples from biochemistry. Topics include the laws of thermodynamics and their molecular interpretation; equilibrium in chemical and biochemical systems; molecular transport; kinetics, including complex enzyme mechanisms; and an introduction to spectroscopy and the underlying concepts of quantum chemistry.

Prerequisites

all of:
- one of:
  - one of:
    - CHEM 1214 (min C-)
    - CHEM 1220 (min C-)
  - one of:
    - CHEM 1151 (min C-)
    - CHEM 233M
    - CHEM 1161 (min C-)
- one of:
  - MATH 1252 (min C-)
  - one of:
    - MATH 1342 (min C-)
    - MATH 211M
- one of:
  - PHYS 1147 (min C-)
  - PHYS 1155 (min C-)
  - PHYS 1165 (min C-)
  - PHYS 1175 (min C-)

Corequisites (same term)

CHEM 3432

Offering history

Term	Sections	Enrolled	Capacity	Full	Open seats/section
Fall 2023	1	45	54	83%	9.0
Spring 2024	1	58	59	98%	1.0
Summer A 2024	1	12	12	100%	0.0
Fall 2024	1	54	54	100%	0.0
Spring 2025	1	65	59	110%	0.0
Summer A 2025	1	17	19	89%	2.0
Fall 2025	1	43	59	73%	16.0
Spring 2026	2	77	79	97%	1.0

Snapshots from scheduled scrapes — not live seat availability. "Full" can exceed 100% when sections over-enroll.

Meeting times

Share of recent sections by weekday: M 100% · T 8% · W 58% · Th 58% · F 0%

Common patterns: MWR (50% of sections), M (42% of sections), MTWR (8% of sections) — in patterns, R means Thursday

Professors

Fall

Leonel Murga (100% of students) · reviews

Spring

Leonel Murga (82% of students) · reviews
Timothy Dransfield (19% of students) · reviews

Summer A

Leonel Murga (100% of students) · reviews

Percentages are each professor's average share of the season's enrolled students in recent terms.

Unlocks

CHEM 3403, CHEM 5610, CHEM 5621, CHEM 5622, CHEM 5636, CHEM 5651

Courses that list CHEM 3431 in their prerequisites.

Links

Official catalog (CHEM course descriptions) · Student reviews on RateMyHusky · All CHEM courses · Plan it at numap.app