The complexity of issues as diverse as climate change, energy storage, a cure for cancer, and antibiotic resistance requires a broad chemical knowledge. This programme has a strong experimental focus and prepares you for a career working with anything from materials to pharmaceuticals.

Chemistry, Master's Programme

Autumn 2024 / Full-time / Linköping

Closed for late application

Chemistry, Master's Programme - Second admission round mainly for Swedish and EU/EEA students

Autumn 2024 / Full-time / Linköping

As a skilled chemist you can play a key role in solving the challenges we are facing concerning the environment and the health of an aging population. This master’s programme has a modern, molecule-centred approach which transcends the boundaries between traditional branches of chemistry.

Learn molecular structures in detail

Throughout the programme, our experienced teachers, who are all active researchers, will explain how molecular properties are understood, designed and used. You will study the details of the chemical bond, followed by synthesis and analysis of molecules and materials. Courses in nanotechnology, medicinal chemistry, and materials science will help you understand how chemistry is central to a wide range of applications, why molecules with certain structures are suited for particular tasks, and how molecular properties can be enhanced to suit the application even better.

Plenty of lab time

You will spend a lot of time in our labs getting hands-on experience of chemistry and applying theories covered in the lectures. Linköping University (LiU) has strong research in chemistry and related subjects, including computational studies of catalysis and surface chemistry, as well as the synthesis of hard and soft materials. We are also developing synthetic molecules for pharmaceutical and diagnostic purposes, and methods for forensic investigations. For your thesis you can opt to work either with a research group at LiU or with the industry.

Syllabus and course details

A detailed syllabus, curriculum and information on courses, including literature, can be found in our Study Information database via the link below. For entry requirements and tuition fees, please click the ”Admission requirements” tab at the top of the page.

Webinar

Learn more about the Chemistry master’s programme by playing back this webinar with Professor Henrik Pedersen and PhD student Pamburayi Mpofu, recorded in November 2022.

Career opportunities

The job market for chemists is excellent. After graduation, you will understand chemistry from an integrated, molecular perspective and have the skill set to work in the pharmaceutical or the materials science industries, as well as for environmental agencies. The fundamental knowledge of chemistry acquired from the programme will allow you to change direction during your career – different applications require molecules with different properties, but they are designed using the same principles. The programme also makes you well prepared for further studies towards a doctoral degree.

Testimonials

”Everything is chemistry!”

Professor and Programme Coordinator Henrik Pedersen explains why you should study Chemistry at LiU. He also covers possible career paths and offers a few tips for prospective students.

What do our current students do on their diploma work placements?

This programme prepares you for all fields of chemistry. Our students can be found in a broad spectrum of diploma work placements - doing research work at LiU, drug industries or labs. Read about some of our current students' placements below.

Robert Lundberg, on diploma work placement at TEMAM

"At TEMAM, I am looking for drugs in African sea sediments with GCMSMS. Sample preparation includes freeze-drying, automatic extraction (ASE350), evaporation (Buchi), purification by silica gel chromatography and derivatization (BSTFA + TMS). The method is developed, validated and applied."

Pentti Niiranen, on diploma work placement in a research group at LiU

"My thesis is a continuation of previous research done here at IFM (Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology) where plasma electrons were used as a reducing agent for depositing metal films. What I do is in-situ studies using an QCM sensor in this CVD process. The special thing about this process is that the electrons from an argon plasma are used as reducing agents instead of another source molecule. This is done by applying a positive bias to the substrate, which in my case is an QCM sensor, which causes the plasma electrons to be drawn towards the surface. This then provides an opportunity to study what is really happening on the surface, which is important for understanding the process."

Malin Eriksson, on diploma work placement at AstraZeneca

"I am doing my master thesis at AstraZeneca in the group for Advanced Drug Delivery. In this early stage of pharmaceutical development, the analytical chemists investigate solubility and stability for various drug candidates. I will perform these experiments and determine whether there is a correlation between these properties to avoid repetitive analyzes. The samples will be analyzed with UPLC-UV-MS. As a second part of the project, I will also perform the sample preparation on a liquid handling system and validate it for implementation."

Pamburayi Mpofu, on diploma work placement in a research group at LiU

"My diploma work within material chemistry is two-fold. First I constructed (designed, built and set up) a cost-effective ALD reactor, then secondly I test experimentally if the reactor construction has been a success by depositing thin films. The second part is the more fun of the two. I'm depositing metal oxide thin films from novel metal precursors that we synthesize locally within the Pedersen Research Group and water vapor as the oxygen source. In addition, I do experimental characterization of the films using many analytical methods that we have in materials science that include XRD, XPS, SEM etc."

Huijun Zhu, on diploma work placement at Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) and LiU

"Air pollution is a critical environmental problem both now and in the coming decades. Recently, the issue of indoor air quality has received increasing attention for improving the comfort and health of building occupants. Among various indoor pollutants, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a group of typical organic matters with adverse effects on human health.

2D nanosheets catalysts have attracted considerable research attention because of their novel properties, which have found wide applications in energy and environmental fields. Thus, my master's thesis project is to design an ultrathin two-dimensional material(NiFe-LDH) to effectively remove NO in indoor air through photocatalysis."

Research

  • Computational chemistry studies of the surface chemical reactions involved in thin film deposition and catalysis. By using supercomputers, chemists can obtain atom-level understanding which is crucial for the development of most chemical applications.
  • Synthesis of novel precursor molecules for group 13 metals and chemical vapour deposition and atomic layer deposition of group 13 nitride thin films for electronic devices for next-generation telecom systems. This project is run in close collaboration with the Division of Semiconductor Materials. More information under ”Pedersen Group” below.

  • Synthesis and characterisation of designer drug metabolites. This is a great challenge for many forensic science researchers since there are no commercially available reference samples for new drugs and their metabolites on the market. This project is a collaboration with The National Board of Forensic Medicine (Rättsmedicinalverket, RMV). See ”New online drugs...” below for further information.
  • Synthesis of functionalised oligothiophene derivatives with specific optical and electronic properties. Conjugated polymers suitable for a wide range of applications, such as solar cells, displays and biosensors, are created by combining features of polymers and the electro-optical properties of conjugated molecules.

Research news

Application and admission

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How to apply for master's degree studies at LiU

A step-by-step guide to everything you need to know about applying for LiU's international master's degree programmes using the application system in Sweden.

Second application round for EU/EEA citizens

Watch the guide on how to apply for the second application round. Mind that you need to change the page language to Swedish to access the application button [Ansök].

You can read about the different admission rounds on University Admissions' Two admission rounds for each semester web page.

Essential information

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