IIT JAM Chemistry Syllabus 2026 (Updated): New Added Topics List & Download Syllabus PDF

Units

Topics

Organic Chemistry

Basic Concepts in Organic Chemistry and Stereochemistry

Electronic Effects (Resonance, Inductive, Hyperconjugation) and Steric Effects and its Applications (Acid/Base Property), Optical Isomerism in Compounds with and without any Stereocenters (Allenes, Biphenyls), Conformation of Acyclic Systems (Substituted Ethane/n-Propane/n-Butane) and Cyclic Systems (Mono- and Di-Substituted Cyclohexanes).

Organic Reaction Mechanism and Synthetic Applications

Dozens Reaction, Wittig Reaction and McMurry Reaction, Pinacol-Pinacolone, Favorskii, Benzilic Acid Rearrangement, Dienone-Phenol Rearrangement, Baeyer-Villiger Reaction, Oxidation and Reduction Reactions in Organic Chemistry, Organometallic Reagents in Organic Synthesis (Grignard, Organolithium and Organocopper), Diels-Alder, Electrocyclic and Sigmatropic Reactions, Functional Group Interconversions and Structural Problems using Chemical Reactions, Chemistry of Reactive Intermediates (Carbocations, Carbanions, Free Radicals, Carbenes, Nitrenes, Benzynes etc…), Hofmann-Curtius-Lossen Rearrangement, Wolff Rearrangement, Simmons-Smith Reaction, Reimer-Tiemann Reaction, Michael Reaction.

Qualitative Organic Analysis

Identification of Functional Groups by Chemical Tests, Elementary UV, IR and 1H NMR Spectroscopic Techniques as Tools for Structural Elucidation

Natural Products Chemistry

Chemistry of Alkaloids, steroids, Terpenes, Carbohydrates, Amino Acids, Peptides and Nucleic Acids.

Aromatic and Heterocyclic Chemistry

Monocyclic, Bicyclic and Tricyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, and Monocyclic Compounds with One Hetero Atom, Synthesis, Reactivity, and Properties.

Main Group Elements (s and p blocks)

General concepts on Group Relationships and Gradation in Properties, Structure of Electron Deficient Compounds involving Main Group Elements

Periodic Table

Periodic Classification of Elements and Periodicity in Properties, General Methods of Isolation and Purification of Elements, Chemical Bonding and Shapes of Compounds, Types of Bonding, VSEPR Theory and Shapes of Molecules, Hybridization, Dipole Moment, Ionic Solids, Structure of NaCl, CsCl, Diamond and Graphite, Lattice Energy

Bioinorganic Chemistry

Essentials and Trace Elements of Life, Basic Reactions in Biological Systems and the Role of Metal Ions, especially Fe2+, Fe3+, Cu2+ and Zn2+, Structure and Function of Haemoglobin and Myoglobin and Carbonic Anhydrase.

Transition Metals (d block)

Characteristics of 3d Elements, Oxide, Hydroxide and Salts of First Row Metals, Coordination Complexes, Structure, Isomerism, Reaction Mechanism and Electronic Spectra, VB, MO and Crystal Field Theoretical Approaches for Structure, Color and Magnetic Properties of Metal Complexes, Organometallic Compounds having Ligands with Back Bonding Capabilities such as Metal Carbonyls, Carbenes, Nitrosyls and Metallocenes, Homogeneous Catalysis.

Instrumental Methods of Analysis

Essentials and Trace Elements of Life, Basic Reactions in Biological Systems and the Role of Metal Ions, especially Fe2+, Fe3+, Cu2+ and Zn2+, Structure and Function of Haemoglobin and Myoglobin and Carbonic Anhydrase.

Analytical Chemistry

Principles of Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis, Acid-Base, Oxidation-Reduction and Complexometric Titrations using EDTA, Precipitation Reactions, Use of Indicators, Use of Organic Reagents in Inorganic Analysis, Radioactivity, Nuclear Reactions, Applications of Isotopes.

Basic Mathematical Concepts

Functions, Maxima and Minima, Integrals, Ordinary Differential Equations, Vectors and Matrices, Determinants, Elementary Statistics and Probability Theory

Atomic and Molecular Structure

Fundamental Particles, Bohr’s Theory of Hydrogen-like Atom, Wave-Particle Duality, Uncertainty Principle, Schrödinger’s Wave Equation, Quantum Numbers, Shapes of Orbitals, Hund’s Rule and Pauli’s Exclusion Principle, Electronic Configuration of Simple Homonuclear Diatomic Molecules

Theory of Gases

Equation of State for Ideal and Non-Ideal (Van Der Waals) Gases, Kinetic Theory of Gases, Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution Law, Equipartition of Energy.

Solid state

Crystals and Crystal Systems, X-rays, NaCl and KCl Structures, Close Packing, Atomic and Ionic Radii, Radius Ratio Rules, Lattice Energy, Born-Haber Cycle, Isomorphism, Heat Capacity of Solids.

Chemical Thermodynamics

Reversible and Irreversible Processes, First Law and Its Application to Ideal and Nonideal Gases, Thermochemistry, Second Law, Entropy and Free Energy, Criteria for Spontaneity.

Chemical and Phase Equilibria

Law of Mass Action, Kp, Kc, Kx and Kn, Effect of Temperature on K, Ionic Equilibria in Solutions, PH and Buffer Solutions, Hydrolysis, Solubility Product, Phase Equilibria–Phase Rule and its Application to One-Component and Two-Component Systems, Colligative Properties

Electrochemistry

Conductance and its Applications, Transport Number, Galvanic cells, EMF and Free Energy, Concentration Cells with and without Transport, Polarography, Concentration cells with and without Transport, Debye-Huckel-Onsager Theory of Strong Electrolytes, Chemical Kinetics, Reactions of Various Order, Arrhenius Equation, Collision Theory, Transition State Theory, Chain Reactions – Normal and Branched, Enzyme Kinetics, Photochemical Processes, Catalysis.

Adsorption

Gibbs Adsorption Equation, Adsorption Isotherm, Types of Adsorption, Surface Area of Adsorbents, Surface Films on Liquids.

Spectroscopy

Beer-Lambert Law, Fundamental Concepts of Rotational, Vibrational, Electronic and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.

Books

Authors

Physical Chemistry

Peter Atkins and Julio De Paula

An Introduction to Electrochemistry

Samuel Glasstone

Organic Chemistry

Morrison and Boyd

Introduction to Surface Chemistry and Catalysis

Gabor A. Somorjai

Surface Chemistry

A.Goel

Solid State

Peter A W. Atkins