LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is to provide the student with a general view on the behavior (chemical and chemico-physical) of the main functional groups of organic chemistry. Based on the knowledge thus acquired, the essential characteristics (constitution, preparation, chemical behavior) of the main types of organic/polymeric materials of more specific interest in the field of Cultural Heritage (solvents, resins, dyes, binders - drying oils and temperas -, protectives, varnishes) are examined. An understanding of the factors that regulate the behavior of these materials is foundation for a correct programming and interpretation of diagnostics, aimed at the use of modern conservation, consolidation and restoration techniques.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The attendance to the programmed educational activities (lectures and laboratory experiments) will allow the student to acquire basic knowledge on the chemical and physico-chemical behavior of the more important functional groups of organic chemistry.

More specifically, the student:

• will gain sufficient knowledge on the behavior (stability, reactivity, answer to the main external causes of stress) of the organic materials most employed in the artistic field;
• will be able to foresee the occurrence, or explain the reason, of the alteration or degrade of artistic materials, and hence
• will be able to interpret correctly the outcomes of the basic (i.e. hose employed in the laboratory activities) or more specific diagnostic techniques (whose teaching is part of the program of future courses of the Master Degree).

TEACHING METHODS

Teaching consists of classroom lectures and practical/theoretical laboratory activities. A regular attendance to lectures and laboratory activities is strongly recommended.

Classroom lectures are delivered making use of multimedial devices (such as powerpoint presentations). At the end of each section of the program, classroom tests are scheduled for the auto-assessment of learning.

The laboratory activities (carried out in DCCI equipped classrooms) are aimed at the practical application of the theoretical knowledge acquired during lectures; the activities will be organized if possible in presence, possibly with more shifts (i.e. dividing the students in groups).

All the activities in presence will be carried out in compliance with the limits of capacity of the classrooms / laboratories and the distancing rules, as established by the updated legislation relevant to the COVID19 emergency.

Please refer to the specific AulaWeb instance for any updates due to changes in the health and epidemiological situation.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The program consists of the presentation and discussion of the following arguments:

• the nomenclature of organic chemistry: functional groups, principles of the IUPAC or of other proposals of systematic nomenclature, prefixes and suffixes;
• application of the general principles of isomerism to organic molecules, with particular regard to the structural (constitutional) and to the configurational isomerism;
• in-depth examination of the covalent bond (with its different typologies) as well as of “weak” bonds, responsible for many physico-chemical properties of organic molecules;
• examination of the basic behavior of the main classes of organic compounds: hydrocarbons (aliphatic and aromatic, both of interest e.g. as solvents in art), haloderivatives, oxygen-containing compounds (alcohols, ethers, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids and their derivatives);
• polyfunctional compounds (with particular attention for those used as ligands in artwoks (triesters of glycerol, waxes, phospholipids, carbohydrates, proteins);
• nucleic acids: only for completeness sake;
• synthetic polymers: types, main polymerization and processuing protocols, applications in the field of Cultural Heritage as dyes, protectives, consolidants;
• silicons and fluorinated polymers;
• classroom and laboratory activities on selected argumentsn of the program (e.g. extraction of dyes from natural sources and their application to the dying of textiles with different processes/technologies.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

All slides used for the lectures, together with further educational aids, will be available on the AulaWeb platform at the end of any series of lectures or lab activities.

The books indicated below are suggested as reference books, available for consultation from the library of the School of “Scienze M.F.N.”

The students can anyway make use of further books at the university level.

Brown - Poon, Introduzione alla Chimica Organica, EdiSES.

Matteini - Moles, La Chimica nel Restauro – I materiali dell’arte pittorica, Nardini Ed.

Mills - White, The Organic Chemistry of Museum Objects, 2° Ed., Routledge, 1994.