GATE 2026 Chemistry Exam Syllabus: Exam Dates OUT, Pattern, Books, PSU recruitment details

Structure

Postulates of Quantum Mechanics | Time-dependent and time independent Schrodinger equations | Harmonic Oscillator | Multi-Electron Atoms | Molecular Structure and Chemical Bonding | Hybrid Orbitals | Hermite Polynomials

Group Theory

Symmetry Elements and Operations | Point Groups and Character Tables | Internal Coordinates and Vibrational Modes | Symmetry Adapted Linear Combination of Atomic Orbitals (LCAO-MO) | Construction of Hybrid Orbitals using Symmetry Aspects

Spectroscopy

Atomic Spectroscopy | Russell Saunders Coupling | Term Symbols and Spectral details | Raman Spectroscopy of Diatomic and Polyatomic Molecules | Line Broadening | Einstein’s Coefficients | Relationship of Transition Moment Integral with Molar Extinction Coefficient and Oscillator Strength | Basic Principles of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance: Gyromagnetic Ratio, Chemical Shift, Nuclear Coupling

Equilibrium

Laws of Thermodynamics | Standard rates | Gibb’s Duhem Equation | Chemical Equilibria | Absolute Entropy | Partial Molar Quantities | Nernst Equations and its applications | Fractional Distillation | Boltzmann Distribution | Partition Functions and Thermodynamic Properties

Kinetics

Elementary, Parallel, Opposing, and Consecutive Reactions | Steady State Approximation | Mechanisms of Complex Reactions | Unimolecular Reactions | Transition Theory: Eyring Equation, Thermodynamic Aspects | Kinetics of Polymerization | Diffusion Controlled Reactions

Surfaces and Interfaces

Physisorption and Chemisorption | Langmuir, Freundlich and Brunauer -Emmett Teller (BET) Isotherms | Surface Catalysis: Langmuir Hinshelwood Mechanism | Surface Tension | Viscosity | Self-Assembly | Physical Chemistry of Colloids, Micelles, and Macromolecules

Main Group Elements

Hydrides, Halides, Oxoacides, Nitrides, Sulfides- Shapes and Reactivity | Structure and Bonding of Boranes, Carboranes, Silicones, Boron Nitride, Silicates, Borazines, and Phosphazenes | Allotropes of Carbon, Phosphorus and Sulphur | Chemistry of Noble Gases | Acid-Base Concepts and Principles

Transition Elements

Coordination Chemistry - Structure and Isomerism | Theories of Bonding (VBT, CFT, and MOT) | CFSE | Applications of CFT | Magnetic Properties of Transitions Metal Complexes | Metal-metal Multiple Bond

Lanthanides and Actinides

Recovery | Periodic Properties | Spectra and Magnetic Properties

Organometallics

18-Electron Rule | Metal- Alkyl |Types of Organometallic Reactions | Homogenous Catalysis - Hydrogenation, Hydroformylation, Acetic acid synthesis | Metathesis and Olefin | Ziegler-Natta Polymerization 

Radioactivity

Detection of Radioactivity | Decay Processes | Half-Life of Radioactive Elements | Fission and Fusion Processes

Bioinorganic Chemistry

Ion (Na+ and K + ) transport | Oxygen Binding | Transport and Utilization | Electron Transfer Reactions | Nitrogen Fixation | Metalloenzymes | Containing Magnesium | Molybdenum, Iron, Cobalt, Copper, and Zinc

Solids

Crystal Systems and Lattices | Miller Planes | Crystal Packing | Crystal Defects | Bragg’s Law | Ionic Crystals | Metals and Semiconductors

Instrumental Methods of Analysis

UV-Visible | Fluorescence and FTIR Spectrophotometry | NMR and ESR Spectroscopy | Electroanalytical Methods 

Stereochemistry

Chirality and symmetry of organic molecules with and without chiral centres and determination of their absolute configurations | Relative stereochemistry in compounds having more than one stereogenic centre | Geometrical isomerism and optical isomerism

Reaction Mechanisms

Basic mechanistic concepts - kinetics versus thermodynamic control | Linear free-energy relationship - Hammett and Taft equations | Addition reactions to carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom (N and O) multiple bonds

Organic Synthesis

Synthesis, reactions, mechanisms, and selectivity involving the following classes of compounds -alkenes, alkynes, arenes, alcohols, phenols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, amines, and amides | Atom economy and Green Chemistry | Concepts of multistep synthesis

Pericyclic Reactions and Photochemistry

Electrocyclic, Cycloaddition, and Sigmatropic reactions | Woodward -Hoffman rule | Photochemistry of alkenes, arenes, and carbonyl compounds | Photooxidation and photoreduction | Norrish type I and II cleavage reaction

Heterocyclic Compounds

Structure, preparation, properties, and reaction of Furan | Pyrole | Thiopene | Pyridine | Indole | Quinoline and Isoquinoline

Biomolecules

Chemical synthesis of peptides | Chemical structure determination of peptides and proteins | Structural features of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, steroids, terpenoids, carotenoids, and alkaloids

Experimental Techniques of Organic Chemistry

Optical rotation (polarimetry) | Applications of various chromatographic techniques, such as thin-layer, column, HPLC and GC | Applications of UV-visible, IR, NMC, and Mass spectrometry in the structural determination of organic molecules