List of courses International PhD School in Chemical Sciences

The official language for courses, seminars, written and oral PhD student reports is English. Lessons will be held during the period June – September. The Teaching Timetable will be furnished individually by each teacher. Examinations must be completed within October.

Course title Teacher Program
A BIOINORGANIC APPROACH TO NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES Prof. G.Grasso Brief overview of neurodegenerative diseases: a bioinorganic point of view. Alzheimer’s disease. Parkinson disease. Prion diseases. Catabolism of aggregation-prone proteins. Aβ, α-synuclein and prion protein. Protein-metal ions binding. Chemical factors regulating the clearance of proteins by metalloproteases: oxidative stress, small molecules and metal ions. Metal ions and metalloproteases at physiological conditions and in neurodegeneration. Some of the most commonly used experimental techniques to study metal binding to proteins.
AN INTRODUCTION TO LARGE-SCALE MATHEMATICAL MODELS IN CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY Prof. A. Raudino Mathematical tools: Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Differential Equations, Initial and Boundary Conditions, Eigenvalue Problems, Fourier Analysis.
Applications: Electrolytes, poly-electrolytes, gels and charged Membranes models. Theory of patterns formation and evolution, nucleation and growth of a new phase, Stability analysis of thin fluid films.
ARCHAEOMATERIALS Prof. E. Ciliberto

Ceramics: fillosilicates and natural clay. Technology of furnace processes. Equivalent temperature of firing. Decoration of the pottery, Egyptian faiences, Attic vases, majolica.
Glasses: ores and technologies of glasses. Former oxides, modifiers oxides, chromatic elements and particles.

Metal and alloys: copper, bronze, brass and steel, ores and early technologies.
Mortar and concretes: lime, technologies and hardening process. Hydraulic limes: technologies and uses.

BIOSENSORS Prof. G. Spoto Basic features of biosensors. Biological receptors: Their classification; surface immobilization/entrapment of receptors; side effects (e.g. non- specific interactions), surface geometry design. Transducers: Optical, electrochemical, piezoelectric.
Assay design, sample requirement and manipulation, biosensor specifications. Microfluidics basic principles and use in biosensing.
CATALYSIS FOR ENERGY PRODUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Prof. S. Sciré
Principles and objectives of Green Chemistry. Atom and energy efficient processes. Catalytic processes with low environmental impact.
Catalysis for environmental protection. Clean-up of emissions from industry. Catalytic abatement of NOx, SOx, VOCs, CFCs, particulate matter.
Catalysis and automotion. Gasoline, diesel, electric and hybrid engines. Clean-up of emissions from cars. Catalytic converters. Catalytic removal of diesel particulate.
Catalysis for hydrogen production. Fuel Cells Technologies. Catalytic processes for fuel production and improvement. Principles and applications of photocatalysis.
CHEMICAL NANOTECHNOLOGIES Prof. G. Marletta
The Course will provide a synthesis of current advances in Nanotechnologies, merging a synthetic view of fundamental approaches with applications to specific case studies.
As to the fundamental approaches, the course will deal with three well- focused topics:
1) Patterning strategies at nanoscale,
2) Advances in self-organisation processes,
3a) Current trends in nanoscale molecular electronics.
As to the applications, the following case studies will be dealed with:
A) Nanobiotechnologies: cell and biomolecule response to nanosystems, B) Nanosystems for molecular sensing and biosensing,
C) Carbon-based nanosystems: Nano-Micro integration: nanosystems for microscale platforms.
The applications will be discussed in view of understanding limits and advantages of nanotechnologies.
COMPUTATIONAL ORGANIC CHEMISTRY Prof. A.Rescifina
Course Aims:
Molecular modelling is a collection of computer based techniques for deriving, representing and manipulating the structures and reactions of molecules, and those properties that are dependent on these three dimensional structures. This lecture course aims to introduce in a simple way the hierarchy of computational modelling methods used nowadays as standard tools by organic chemists for searching for, rationalising and predicting structure and reactivity of organic, bio-organic and organometallic molecules. The emphasis will be on helping to develop a feel for the correct "tool" to use in the context of a typical problem in structure, activity or reactivity, by describing the limitations and strengths of each method.
The Synopsis and Syllabus will be provided after the eventual approval
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURES OF INORGANIC SYSTEMS Prof. A. Gulino Symmetry elements and operations. Rules for the 
evaluation of the direct product in symmetry 
groups. Cubic and deviations from cubic symmetry. 
Franck-Condon principle. Spin-orbit coupling. 
Electronic configurations, quantum numbers, 
electronic terms and microstates. Racah 
parameters and Tanabe Sugano diagrams. Optical spectra of inorganic complexes.
Photoelectric effect and photoelectron 
spectroscopy. Energy of photo- and Auger- 
electrons.  Fermi level and temperature 
influence. Insulating and conductive samples. 
Koopman's theorem and Hartree-Fock energies. Electronic effects.
FABRICATION AND PHYSICO-CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF FUNCTIONAL BIOLOGICAL INTERFACES Prof. C. Satriano Preparation and characterization of functional surfaces for specific interactions with bio-systems, in vivo and in vitro. Studies of the molecular and kinetic processes occurring at such interfaces, ranging from small molecule and biomolecular interactions, to cell adhesion, differentiation and tissue formation at the interface. Case studies of biomimetic surface platforms, biomembrane and supramolecular materials, nanotechnology applications.
MOLECULAR BASES OF PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITY Prof. V. Muccilli
Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry - Drug Discovery and Drug Development – Natural Products and Drug Discovery – Lead Compounds
- Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics – Structure-activity relationships (SAR) – Lipophylicity (Log P).
Receptors, Enzymes and Drugs. – Agonists and Antagonists – Enzyme inhibitors – Xenobiotics – Phase I and Phase II Enzymes – Cytochrome P 450 – Conjugates – Drug metabolism.
Cancer chemoprevention: anticarcinogenic, antiproliferative and pro- apoptotic agents.
MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATION Prof. C. La Rosa
The Aims of Molecular Dynamics.
Classical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics and Statistical Thermodynamics.
Molecular Interactions: Non-bonded Interactions, Bonding Potentials, Force Calculation.
The MD Algorithm: The Verlet Algorithm, Constraints and Restrain. Time Dependence: Propagators and the Verlet Algorithm, Multiple Time- steps.
Rigid Molecule Rotation and Harmonic Oscillator.
Molecular Dynamics in Different Ensembles
Explicit and Implicit Solvent
Force Field: CFF and CHARMM
Program: NAMD and VMD. Molecular Dynamics and Steered Molecular Dynamics: from simulations to thermodynamic functions.Computer tutorials
PHOTOCHEMISTRY: FROM BASIC PRINCIPLES TO PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Prof. S. Sortino The aim of the course is twofold. In a first introductory part the basic principles of photochemical and photophysical processes will be provided. In a second part, the role of photochemistry as multidisciplinary science will be highlighted. In particular it will be shown the importance of the processes initiated and/or controlled by light in multifaceted applications in different fields, encompassing optoelectronics, environment, biology and medicine.
PROTEIN (MIS)FOLDING AND AMYLOID AGGREGATION: CLASSICAL
PRINCIPLES AND EMERGING APPROACHES IN THE THERAPY OF NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS
Dr. Danilo Milardi The protein folding energy landscape. Sequence-based prediction of protein behavior. The amyloid phenomenon and its significance in human diseases. The kinetics and mechanisms of amyloid formation. Amyloid structures at the atomic level: insights from crystallography. Pathways of amyloid formation. Fibrillar Polymorphism. Structural and compositional information about pre-amyloid oligomers. Fluorescence spectroscopy and Statistical Differential Scanning Calorimetry: two tools to characterize amyloid and to probe folding/unfolding ensembles. Inhibitors of Amyloid and Oligomer Formation. Functional Amyloids. A study case: the role of Aβ in Alzheimer’s Disease.
QUANTOMECHANICAL CALCULATION METHODS: THEORY AND APPLICATIONS Prof. G. Forte
The course deals with the basic principles on which quantum mechanical calculation methods are based, starting from the Hartree Fock method and extending it to much more advanced methods capable of accurately estimating the correlation energy, finally continuing with the theory of functional density. (DFT) to date among the most used computational approaches in the chemical field.
The applications of theoretical methods to various chemical problems will be presented during the course together with the presentation of the best software available today for calculation and visualization.
STEREOCHEMISTRY OF COORDINATION COMPOUNDS Prof. R. Purrello
Aim of this course is to present an overview of a part of stereochemistry usually not presented during the studies leading to Laurea, to give to the Ph.D. students a thorough vision of stereochemistry.The emergence and role of stereochemistry of coordination compounds; basic concepts: structure, geometry, symmetry; methods for the elucidation of the stereochemistry of coordination compounds, general concepts: the classification of ligands, isomerism, nomenclature; mononuclear and polynuclear coordination units.
SURFACE MASS SPECTROMETRIES Prof. A. Licciardello
Aim of the course is to provide a survey on surface mass spectrometries, namely Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), Sputtered Neutrals Mass Spectrometry (SNMS) an Glow-Discharge Mass Spectrometry (GD- MS).
The first part of the course will provide the necessary background of ion- matter and plasma-matter interaction.
The second part of the course will deal with the application of such techniques in the study of inorganic and organic surfaces and thin films, and their impact in different fields of materials science and life science.

SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY AND MATERIALS FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

Dr. R. Fiorenza 
The main purpose of this course is to show how in the recent years, the chemical industry has made considerable efforts to reduce its impact on the environment towards the decrease of the consumption of raw materials with a contextual increase in the utilization of renewable energies. In particular, will be discussed the AOP (Advanced Oxidation processes) for air and water purification, the production of fuels and chemicals from biomass, the production of energy from natural gas reforming and from the organic wastes, with a focus on the active materials widely used for the environmental protection. Furthermore, some examples of already applied sustainable industrial processes will be examined, as the Sumitomo-EniChem process for the synthesis of the caprolactam, the BASF ibuprofen production and the Sumitomo process for the chlorine recycling.