OAS Chemistry optional

Chemistry is one of the optional subjects offered in the OAS Mains examination, with two papers of 250 marks each.

The syllabus below is reproduced from the Odisha Public Service Commission's own notification. Both papers carry 250 marks and run for three hours.

Section-B

1. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry: Water relations, Mineral nutrition and ion transport, mineral deficiencies. Photosynthesis—photochemical reactions, photophosphorylation and carbon pathways C3, C4 and CAM pathways, Photorespiration; Respiraion-anaerobic and aerobic, including fermentation; Electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation; Chemiosmotic theory and ATP synthesis; Nitrogen fixation and nitrogen metabolism; Enzymes, coenzymes, energy transfer and energy conservation;. Importance of secondary metabolites.
2. Growth, Development and Stress Physiology: Photomorphogenesis, Pigments as photoreceptors (plastidial pigments and phytochrome); Photoperiodism and flowering, vernalization, senescence; Growth substances-their chemical nature, role and applications in agri-horticulture; Kinetic of growth, growth movements; Dormancy, storage and germination of seed; Fruit ripening - its molecular basis and manipulation, Fruit and seed physiology; Stress physiology (heat, water, salinity, metal).
3. Plant Ecology and Plant Geography: Ecological factors; Concepts and dynamics of community; Plant succession; Concepts of biosphere; Ecosystems and their conservation; Pollution and its control (including phytoremediaion). Forest types of India -- afforestation, deforestation and social forestry; Endangered plants, endemism and Red Data Books; Biodiversity; Convention of Biological Diversity, Sovereign Rights and Intellectual Property Rights; Biogeochemical cycles; Global warming; Forests of Odisha. 2 oe CHEMISTRY 00

PAPER-I

1. Atomic structure Quantum theory, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Schrodinger wave equation (time independent). Interpretation of wave function, particle in one-dimensional! box, quantum numbers, hydrogen atom, wave functions. Shapes of s, p, d and forbitals.
2. Chemical bonding Ionic bond, characteristics of ionic compounds, factors affecting stability of ionic. compounds, lattice energy, Born-Haber cycle; covalent bond and its general characteristics, polarities of bonds in molecules and their dipole moments. Valence Bond Theory (VBT), concept of resonance and resonance energy. Molecular Orbital Theory. (MOT); bonding in homonuclear diatomic molecules: H2 U H2 to Ne2, MOT treatment of NO, CO, HF, CN, CNU, BeH2 and CO2. Comparison of VBT and MOT, bond order, bond strength, bond length, dipolemoment.
3. Solid State Forms of solids, law of constancy of interfacial angles, crystal systems and crystal classes (crystallographic groups). Designation of crystal faces, lattice structures and unit cell. Laws of rational indices. Bragg's law. X-ray diffraction by crystals. Close packing, radious-ratio rules, calculation of some limiting radius-ratio values. Structures of NaCl, ZnS, CsCl, CaF2, CdI2 and rutile. Defects in crystals, stoichiometric and nonhstoichiometric defects, impurity defects, semi-conductors. Elementary study of liquid crystals.
4. The gaseous state Equation of state for real gases, intermolecular interactions, liquefaction of gases and critical phenomena, Maxwell's distribution of speeds, intermolecular collisions, collisions. on the wall and effusion.
5. Thermodynamics and statistical thermodynamics First law of thermodynamics, and heat absorbed in different types of processes; calorimetry, energy and enthalpy changes in various processes and their temperature dependence. Second law of thermodynamics; entropy as a state function, entropy changes in various processes, entropy—reversibility and irreversibility. Nernst heat theorem and third law of thermodynamics. Micro and macro states; canonical ensemble and canonical partition function; electronic, rotational and vibrational partition functions and thermodynamic quantities; chemical equilibrium in ideal gas reactions.
6. Phase equilibria and solutions Phase equilibria in pure substances; phase diagram for a pure substance; phase equilibria in binary systems, partially miscible liquids-upper and lower critical solution temperatures; partial molar quantities, their significance and determination; excess thermodynamic functions and their determination.
7. Electrochemistry. Debye-Huckel theory of strong electrolytes and Debye-Huckel limiting Law for various. equilibrium and transport properties. Galvanic cells, concentration cells; electrochemical series, measurement of e.m.f. of cells and its applications fuel cells and batteries. Processes at electrodes; double layer at the interface; rate of charge transfer, current density; overpotential; —_electroanalytical _ techniques—voltameter, polarography, amperometry, cyclic-voltametry, ion-selective electrodes and their use.
8. Chemical kinetics Concentration dependence of rate of reaction; defferential and integral rate equations for zeroth, first, second and fractional order reactions. Rate equations involving reverse, parallel, consecutive and chain reactions; effect of temperature and pressure on rate constant. Study of fast reactions by stop-flow and relaxation methods. Collisions and transition state theories.
9. Photochemistry. Absorption of light; decay of excited state by different routes; photochemical reactions between hydrogn and halogens and their quantum yields. -
10. Surface phenomena and catalysis Absorption from gases and solutions on solid adsorbents, adsorption isotherms,— Langmuir, Gibbs and Freundlich isotherms; determination of surface area, characteristics and mechanism of reaction on heterogeneous catalysts.
11. Bio-inorganic chemistry Metal ions in biological systems and their role in ion-transport across the membranes (molecular mechanism), ionophores, photosynthesis—PSI, PSII; nitrogen fixation, oxygen-uptake proteins, cytochromes and ferredoxins.
12. Coordination chemistry (a) Electronic configurations; introduction to theories of bonding in transition metal complexes. Valence bond theory, crystal field theory and its modifications; applications of theories in the explanation of magnetism and electronic spectra of metal complexes. (b) Isomerism in coordination compounds. IUPAC nomenclature of coordination compounds; stereochemistry of complexes with 4 and 6 coordination numbers; chelate effect and polynuclear complexes; trans-effect and its theories; kinetics of substitution reactions in square-planar complexes; thermodynamic and kinetic stability of complexes.. (c) Synthesis and structures of metal carbonyls; carboxylate anions, carbonyl hydrides and metal nitrosyl compounds. (d) Complexes with aromatic systems, synthesis, structure and bonding in metal-olefin complexes, alkyne - complexes and cyclopentadieny! complexes; coordinative unsaturation, oxidative addition reactions, insertion reactions, fluxional molecules and their characterization. Compounds with metal-metal bonds and metal atom clusters.
13. General chemistry of ‘f block elements Lanthanides and actinides; separation, oxidation states, magnetic and spectral properties; lanthanide contraction.
14. Non-Aqueous Solvents Reactions in liquid NH3, HF, SO2 and H2 SO4. Failure of solvent system concept, coordination model of non-aqueous solvents. Some highly acidic media, fluorosulphuric acid and super acids., Paper-II
15. Delocalised covalent bonding: Aromaticity, anti-aromaticity; Homo- aromaticity, non-aromaticity, annulenes, azulenes, tropolones, kekulene, fulvenes, sydnones. 2(a) Reaction mechanisms: General methods (both kinetic and non-kinetic) of study of mechanism of organic reactions illustrated by examples—use of isotopes, cross-over experiment, intermediate trapping, stereochemistry; energy diagrams of simple organic reactions, transition states and intermediates; energy of activation; thermodynamic control and kinetic contro! of reactions. (b) Reactive intermediates: Generation, geometry, stability and reactions of Carbocations, carbanions, free radicals, carbenes, benzynes, nitrenes and enamines.. (c) Substitution reactions: SN], SN2, SNi, SN’1/, SN’2/, SNi’/ and SRN1 mechanisms; neighbouring group participation; electrophilic and nucleophilic reactions of aromatic compound including simple heterocyclic compounds-pyrrole, furan, thiophene, indole. (d) Elimination reactions: E1, E2 and E1CB mechanism; orientation in E2 reactions—. Saytzeff and Hoffmann; pyrolytic syn elimination—acetate pyrolysis, Chugaev and Cope eliminations.. (e) Addition reactions: Electrophilic addition to C= and CUC, Nucleophilic addition to >C=O, -C=N, conjugated olefins and carbonyls. (f) Rearrangements: Pinacol-pinacolone, Hoffmann, Beckmann, Baeyer—Villiger, Favorskii, Fries, Claisen, Cope, Stevens and Wagner-Meerwein rearrangements.
16. Pericyclic reactions: Classification and examples, Woodward-Hoffmann rules electro cyclic reactions, cycloaddition reactions [2+2 and 4+2] and sigmatropic shifts [1, 3; 3, 3 and 1, 5], FMO approach.
17. Chemistry and mechanism of reactions: Aldol condensation (including directedaldol condensation), Claisen condensation, Dieckmann, Perkin, Knoevenagel, Wittig, Clemmensen, Wolff-Kishner, Cannizzaro and von Richter reactions; Stobbe, benzoin and acyloin condensations; Fischer indole synthesis, Skraup synthesis, Bischler- Napieralski, Sandmeyer, Reimer-Tiemann and Reformatsky reactions.
18. Polymeric Systems (a) Physical chemistry of polymers: Polymer solutions and their thermodynamic properties; number and weight average molecular weights of polymers. Determination of molecular weights by sedimentation, light scattering, osmotic pressure, viscosity, end group analysis methods. (b) Preparation and properties of polymers: Organic polymers—polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, Teflon, nylon, terylene, synthetic and natural rubber. Inorganic polymers—phosphonitrilic halides, borazines, silicones and silicates. (c) Biopolymers: Basic bonding in proteins, DNA and RNA.
19. Synthetic uses of reagents: OsO4, HIO4, CrO3, Pb(OAc)4, SeO2, NBS, B2 H6, Na-Liquid NH3, LiAlH4 NaBH4 n-BuLi, MCPBA.
20. Photochemistry: Photochemical reactions of simple organic compounds, excited and ground states, singlet and triplet states, Norrish-Type I and Norrish-Type II reactions, Photo Fries, di-U-methane rearrangements.
21. Principles of spectroscopy and applications in structure elucidation (a) Rotational spectra—diatomic molecules; isotopic substitution and _ rotational constants. (b) Vibrational spectra—diatomic molecules, linear triatomic molecules, specific frequencies of functional groups in polyatomic molecules. (c) Electronic spectra: Singlet and triplet states. m U * and U U * transitions; * application to conjugated double bonds and conjugated carbonyls—Woodward-Fieser rules. (d) Nuclear magnetic resonance: Isochronous and anisochronous protons; chemical shift and coupling constants; Application of H NMR to simple organic molecules. (e) Mass spectra: Parent peak, base peak, daughter peak, metastable peak, fragmentation of simple organic molecules, U-cleavage, McLafferty rearrangement (f) Electron spin resonance: Inorganic complexes and free radicals.