2026 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Materials and Chemical Technology Undergraduate major in Materials Science and Engineering

Organic Materials Laboratory I

Academic unit or major: Undergraduate major in Materials Science and Engineering
Instructor(s): Tsuyoshi Michinobu / Syuichi Akasaka / Minoru Ashizawa / Takashi Iwahashi / Tadashi Kawamoto / Shun Omagari / Massimilia Zamengo / Atsushi Isobe / Riku Takahashi / Fulati Ailifeire
Class Format: Experiment (Face-to-face)
Media-enhanced courses: -
Day of week/Period (Classrooms): 5-8 Mon (S8-108,109) / 5-8 Thu (S8-108,109)
Class: -
Course Code: MAT.P350
Number of credits: 002
Course offered: 2026
Offered quarter: 1Q
Syllabus updated: Mar 5, 2026
Language: Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

Understanding the principle of experiments and the obtained meanings of the properties by the experiments is essential in material science and engineering. The learning of fundamental skills of chemical and physical measurement operation is required for the correct and safe experiments. In this experiment course, the following topics will be covered: learning measurement methods and theories to evaluate electrochemical properties of organic materials; measurements and discussion of physical properties of molecular materials; explanation of a phase transition of a liquid crystalline compound and structures of molecular crystals; synthesis of functional molecular materials and evaluation of their electronic properties.
The aims of this course are to make students get the basics for organic and polymeric materials through the learning of experimental operations, principles and comparison between the theoretical and experimental data, in order to improve their skills and understandings from the viewpoints of general education covering the wide area from the basics to the advanced research of science and engineering.
Additionally, the number of students may be restricted due to the limitation of a laboratory space. The learning quarters and orders could be also changed. Students can learn whole themes in Experiments of Organic and Polymeric Materials I, II and III in a different order, by taking all courses of Experiments of Organic and Polymeric Materials at 1st, 3rd and 4th quarters.

Course description and aims

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. acquire fundamental skills of chemical and physical measurement operations,
2. understand the chemical reactions and analysis,
3. understand the meanings of measured properties and their principles,
4. understand the relation between the conditions of sample preparation and their properties,
5. understand the experimental methods, data analysis and discussion based on obtained data, and learning the basics for more advanced experiments.

Keywords

Organic and polymeric materials, material engineering, experiment, operation of chemical experiment, analysis method, property measurement, numerical calculation

Competencies

Specialist skills
Intercultural skills
Communication skills
Critical thinking skills
Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Students work in teams throughout this course and conduct a series of experimental themes. The learning quarters and orders could be also changed. Students can learn whole themes in Experiments of Organic and Polymeric Materials I, II and III in a different order, by taking all courses of Experiments of Organic and Polymeric Materials at 1st, 3rd and 4th quarters. Written reports must be submitted by designated dates. Students must read the experiment textbook before the start of each experiment to ensure safety and smooth running.

Course schedule/Objectives

	Course schedule	Objectives
Class 1	General Guidance	Explanation of precautions, grouping, schedule, reports, etc. for the experiment.
Class 2	Electrical Properties of Organic Materials (4 sessions) 1. Operation of an Oscilloscope and Characteristics of RC Parallel Circuits	Basic operation of an oscilloscope is studied, followed by investigation of the characteristics of an RC parallel circuit.
Class 3	Electrical Properties of Organic Materials (2/4) 2. Measurement of Dielectric Properties Using an RLC Parallel Resonant Circuits	The characteristics of an RLC parallel resonant circuit are examined, and the dielectric constant of a dielectric material is determined.
Class 4	Electrical Properties of Organic Materials (3/4) 3. AC Impedance Measurement of Equivalent Circuit Model of Fuel Cells	AC impedance measurement is studied using an equivalent circuit model of a fuel cell.
Class 5	Electrical Properties of Organic Materials (4/4) 4. AC Impedance Measurement of Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC)	Performance evaluation is conducted through AC impedance measurements using a DMFC kit.
Class 6	Structure and physical properties of molecular materials (4 sessions)	Measure and discuss physical properties of molecular materials. Explain a conoscopic image using a polarizing microscope. Explain phase transitions of a liquid crystalline compound. Explain X-ray diffraction and structures of molecular crystals.
Class 7	Structure and physical properties of molecular materials (2/4)	Isotropic-nematic phase transition in a liquid crystalline compound.
Class 8	Structure and physical properties of molecular materials (3/4)	Freedericksz transition in a liquid crystal.
Class 9	Structure and physical properties of molecular materials (4/4)	X-ray crystal structure analysis of molecular crystals.
Class 10	Friedel-Crafts acylation and electronic properties of π-conjugated compounds (4 sessions) 1： Friedel-Crafts acylation	Day 1: Friedel-Crafts acylation of π-conjugated compound
Class 11	Friedel-Crafts acylation and electronic properties of π-conjugated compounds (2/4) 2: Purificaiton by column chromatography	Day 2: Purification of crude compounds by column chromatography
Class 12	Friedel-Crafts acylation and electronic properties of π-conjugated compounds (3/4) 3: Identification of organic compounds	Day 3: Identification of organic compounds using NMR and IR spectra
Class 13	Friedel-Crafts acylation and electronic properties of π-conjugated compounds (4/4) 4: Evaluation of electronic properties	Day 4: Evaluation of electronic properties through measurements of absorption spectra and oxidation-reduction reaction
Class 14	Safety education	Learning about safety precautions in conducting research in a laboratory. -Radiation -Machinery -Cryogenic refrigerants

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 50 minutes preparing for class and another 50 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Full attendance and completion of all experiments are compulsory. Assessment is based on the quality of the written reports and on the status of submission thereof. Students may fail this course if they repeatedly come late to classes or often delay the submission of reports.

Related courses

MAT.P351 ： Experiments of Organic and Polymeric Materials II
MAT.P352 ： Experiments of Organic and Polymeric Materials III
MAT.A250 ： Materials Science Laboratory I
MAT.A251 ： Materials Science Laboratory II
MAT.A252 ： Materials Science Laboratory III

Prerequisites

No prerequisites are necessary, but enrollment in the related courses is desirable.