CHEM1041 deals with a range of fundamental concepts that can be used to explain various phenomena in chemistry, biology and material science. It enables students to develop further their knowledge of Chemistry and probes a diverse range of molecules and their reactions, focusing on applications such as drug development, functional materials, environmental chemistry, and renewable energies.

A key part of chemistry is to study the speed of chemical reactions providing a strong foundation for material covered later in the course. The course introduces modern structure determination methods and the concepts of stereochemistry, which are important in understanding the shape and structure of chemicals. The next section of the course provides a thorough introduction to modern inorganic chemistry and use of the periodic table is a powerful predictive tool. Important foci are the chemistries of main-group and transition metals. Transition metal compounds, d-element electron configuration, new metal bonding theories and the key reaction mechanisms exhibited by transition metal chemistry are discussed. The final section of the course deals with the chemistry of carbon-containing compounds and provides a thorough introduction to the field by emphasising the reaction mechanisms that provide insight into how reactions of these molecules proceed. Students are introduced to a range of chemistry that enables the preparation of new molecules starting from readily available materials. The course concludes with a summary of how these concepts are applicable to the chemistry of amino acids, peptides and proteins.