Chemistry
Analytical ChemistryPurdue University’s analytical chemistry program is widely held to be the top graduate program in the United States. With 18 faculty members and more than 110 graduate and undergraduate students, our program is one of the largest in the world as well.
Inorganic chemistry, by definition, encompasses the entire periodic table. Thus, the field is extremely diverse. From solid-state materials to the inorganic biochemistry of life to nanotechnology, the research interests of the Purdue inorganic faculty promise exciting choices for the graduate student. Purdue University’s Biochemistry core area offers leading-edge research programs for studies of biological systems. Our multidisciplinary programs encompass both fundamental and applied research.From drugs to polymers to synthetic fuels, there are few areas of life today where one does not feel the impact of organic chemistry. This broad discipline extends from the use of a sophisticated analytical instrument to the synthesis of a complex natural product or the study of biological macromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids.
Recent developments in materials chemistry offer new avenues for designing advanced materials with novel physical properties or application toward human health. Conversely, contemporary challenges in the physical and life sciences now require an innovative departure from traditional materials and methods.Fundamental advances in chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology have provided unprecedented opportunities to probe living systems at a molecular level. These advances have led to the development of a rapidly growing multidisciplinary field -- Chemical Biology. Within Chemical Biology, groundbreaking chemical methodology may be applied to the elucidation of essential biological processes.
G. N. Lewis once defined physical chemistry as anything that is interesting; that is still the most concise and accurate description of this diverse and fascinating field.
There are a small band of chemists who perform no experiments. Their desks are their laboratories and computers are their main instruments. These theoretical chemists replace the laboratory equipment of the experimentalist with mental tools like imagination and mathematical analysis.