CHEM - 165. Forensic Chemistry

4 credit(s)
The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to the chemical aspects of forensic science as it applies to criminal investigation and laboratory preparation. This course looks at select pieces of instrumentation and chemistry associated with crimes. We will look at how the instrumentation is used, what type of evidence it can process, how to read the results and the properties of the chemical evidence. This course will also study the general principles and fundamentals of forensic toxicology, poisons, action, toxicity, postmortem characteristics, samples required for toxicological analysis and methods of collection, methods of preservation and analysis. Chemical, toxicological and pathological characteristics of commonly abused drugs, including the following: ethanol, barbiturates, narcotics, stimulants, and hallucinogens. Details of SAInT Center instrumentation and the methods employed for analysis, such as color test, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, GC-MS, infrared spectroscopy, uv-vis spectrometry, will be a major part of the laboratory portion of the class. This course cannot be used to satisfy either Chemistry or Biochemistry requirements.

Attribute: (ATTR: ARTS, FCSE)