Credits: 5. Grading scale: UG. Optional for: K3. Course coordinator: Professor Olov Sterner, Olov.Sterner@bioorganic.lth.se, Bioorganisk kemi. Assessment: A written exam will be given at the end of the course. A written report must be approved. Homepage: http://www.bioorganic.lth.se/Teaching/ChemTox/ChemTox.html.

Aim
The goal of the course is to make the students aware of the chemical properties and the reactivity that causes the toxic effects that hazardous chemicals give rise to.

Contents
The course will discuss the chemical basis for how chemicals are absorbed by organisms, how they are distributed and metabolised, how they can react with molecular machinery of out cells and how this may lead to toxic effects. Special emphasis will be given to compounds that give rise to allergenic and genotoxic effects, or affect the nervous system. The relationships between structure and chemical properties associated with toxicity, and the possibility to identify such structures or substructures by considering how the metabolic conversions will change a compound, are key aspects of the course. In a practical part, the student will give present a written report that gives deeper insight into various aspects of a hazardous chemical.

Literature
Sterner: Chemistry, Health and Environment, Wiley-VCH (1999).