IIT JAM Chemistry Syllabus 2026: Download PDF, Check Newly Added Topics with Exam Pattern

IIT JAM Chemistry (CY) Syllabus 2026: The IIT JAM Chemistry (CY) syllabus is a very important guide for students who want to get into an IIT or IISc for their master's degree. It clearly lists all the topics you need to study in physical, organic, and inorganic chemistry. This year, IIT Bombay is going to conduct the IIT JAM exam on February 15, 2026 and has released the official syllabus along with the notification. All prospective candidates of the IIT JAM 2026 are advised to familiarise themselves with the IIT JAM syllabus. Scroll down to learn more about the NEET PG syllabus, including weightage, subject-wise topics, prep tips, and best books.

IIT JAM Chemistry (CY) Syllabus 2026

The IIT JAM Chemistry syllabus is designed to check the candidate's foundational knowledge and conceptual clarity across all three major branches of chemistry: physical, organic, and inorganic. Its purpose is to evaluate not just rote memorisation, but a student's ability to apply fundamental principles to solve complex, analytical problems, assessing their readiness for advanced studies at the postgraduate level. The syllabus ensures that candidates have the necessary skills to handle the rigorous academic demands of M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs at top institutions. It is essential for all candidates appearing in the IIT JAM Chemistry 2026 exam to be well-versed with the IIT JAM Chemistry syllabus before starting their preparation. Check the important topics, section-wise weightage for the IIT JAM Chemistry syllabus.

IIT JAM Chemistry Syllabus 2026 Section-wise 

The IIT JAM syllabus for Chemistry (CY) 2026 is divided into four sections - Basic Mathematical Concepts, Physical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry. The detailed list of topics of the IIT JAM Chemistry syllabus is provided below.

Basic Mathematical Concepts (10+2 Level)

• Functions; maxima and minima; integrals; ordinary differential equations; vectors and matrices; determinants; elementary statistics.

Physical Chemistry

• Atomic and Molecular Structure: Planck’s black body radiation, Photoelectric effect, Bohr’s theory, de Broglie postulate, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Schr¨odinger’s wave equation (including mathematical treatment), postulates of quantum mechanics, normalised and orthogonal wave functions, its complex conjugate (idea of complex numbers) and significance of Ψ2; Operators; Particle in one- dimension box, radial and angular wave functions for hydrogen atom, radial probability distribution; Finding maxima of distribution functions (idea of maxima and minima), energy spectrum of hydrogen atom; Shapes of s, p, d and f orbitals; Pauli’s Exclusion Principle; Hund’s rule of maximum multiplicity.

• Gaseous State: Kinetic molecular model of a gas: collision frequency; collision diameter; mean free path and viscosity of gases; Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution: molecular velocities, law of equipartition of energy, molecular basis of heat capacities; Ideal gases, and deviations from ideal gas behaviour, van der Waals equation of state; critical state, law of corresponding states.

• Liquid State: Physical properties of Liquid, vapour pressure, surface tension and co-efficient of viscosity and their applications; effect of concentration of solutes on surface tension and viscosity; effect of temperature on viscosity of liquids.

• Solid State: Unit Cells, Miller indices, crystal systems and Bravais Lattices, elementary applications of vectors to crystal systems; X-ray diffraction, Bragg’s Law, Structure of NaCl, CsCl, and KCl, diamond, and graphite; Close packing in metals and metal compounds, semiconductors, insulators; Defects in crystals, lattice energy; isomorphism; heat capacity of solids.

• Chemical Thermodynamics: Mathematical treatment: Exact and in-exact differentials, partial derivatives, Euler’s reciprocity, cyclic rule; Reversible and irreversible processes; Laws of thermodynamics, thermochemistry, thermodynamic functions, such as enthalpy, entropy, and Gibbs free energy, their properties and applications; Partial molar quantities, dependence of thermodynamic parameters on composition, Gibbs Duhem equation, chemical potential and its applications.

• Chemical and Phase Equilibria: Law of mass action; Kp, Kc, Kx and Kn; Effect of temperature on K; Le-Chatelier principle; Ionic equilibria in solutions; pH and buffer solutions; Salt hydrolysis; Solubility and solubility product; Acid-base titration curves; Indicators; Dilute solutions; Raoult’s and Henry’s Laws and their applications; Colligative properties; Gibbs phase rule; Phase equilibria; single and two-component phase diagrams.

• Electrochemistry: Conductivity, equivalent and molar conductivity and their properties; Kohlrausch law; Debye-Hückel-Onsager equation; Ionic velocities, mobilities, transference numbers; Applications of conductance measurement; Quantitative aspects of Faraday’s laws of electrolysis, applications of electrolysis in metallurgy and industry; Electromotive force of a cell, Nernst equation; Standard electrode potential, Electrochemical series; Concentration cells with and without transference; Applications of EMF measurements including potentiometric titrations.

• Chemical Kinetics: Order and molecularity of a reaction, differential and integrated form of rate expressions; Kinetics of opposing, parallel, and consecutive reactions; Steady state approximation in reaction mechanisms; Chain reactions; Uni-molecular reaction (Lindemann mechanism); Temperature dependence of reaction rates, Arrhenius equation; activation energy; Collision theory of reaction rates; Types of catalysts, specificity and selectivity, mechanisms of catalysed reactions at solid surfaces; Enzyme catalysis (Michaelis-Menten mechanism, Double reciprocal plot), Acid-base catalysis.

• Adsorption: Gibbs adsorption equation; adsorption isotherm; types of adsorption; surface area of adsorbents; surface films on liquids.

• Spectroscopy: Beer-Lambert’s law; fundamental concepts of rotational, vibrational, electronic and magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

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, substituted cyclohexanes, and polycyclic (cis and trans decalins) systems.

• Organic Reaction Mechanism and Synthetic Applications: Chemistry of reactive intermediates (carbocations, carbanions, free radicals, carbenes, nitrenes, benzynes); nucleophilic substitution, elimination reactions and mechanisms; Hofmann-Curtius- Lossen rearrangement, Wolff rearrangement, Simmons-Smith reaction, Reimer-Tiemann reaction, Michael reaction, Darzens reaction, Wittig reaction and McMurry reaction; Pinacolpinacolone, Favorskii, benzilic acid rearrangement, Baeyer-Villeger reaction; oxidation and reduction reactions in organic chemistry; Organometallic reagents in organic synthesis (Grignard, organolithium, organocopper and organozinc (Reformatsky only); Diels-Alder, electrocyclic and sigmatropic reactions; functional group inter-conversions and structural problems using chemical reactions.

• Qualitative Organic Analysis: Identification of functional groups by chemical tests; elementary UV, IR and 1H NMR spectroscopic techniques as tools for structural elucidation of simple organic molecules.

• 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, aromaticity; Electrophilic and nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions.

Inorganic Chemistry

• Periodic Table: Periodic classification of elements, Aufbau’s principle, periodicity; Variations of orbital energy, effective nuclear charge, atomic, covalent, and ionic radii, ionisation enthalpy, electron gain enthalpy, and electronegativity with atomic number, electronic configuration of diatomic molecules (first and second row elements).

• Extractions of Metals: General methods of isolation and purification of elements; Principles and applications of Ellingham diagram.

• Chemical Bonding and shapes of molecules: Ionic bond: Packing of ions in crystals, radius ratio rule, Born-Land´e equation, Kapustinskii expression, Madelung constant, Born-Haber cycle, solvation energy, polarising power and polarizability; Fajan’s rules; Covalent bond: Lewis structure, valence bond theory. Hybridisation, molecular orbital theory, molecular orbital diagrams of diatomic and simple polyatomic molecules and ions; Multiple bonding (σ and π bond approach) and bond lengths; van der Waals forces, ion-dipole forces, dipole-dipole interactions, induced dipole interactions, instantaneous dipole-induced dipole interactions, hydrogen bonding; Effect of intermolecular forces on melting and boiling points, solubility energetics of dissolution process; Bond dipole, dipole moment, and molecular polarizabilities; VSEPR theory and shapes of molecules; ionic solids.

• Main Group Elements (s and p blocks): Reactions of alkali and alkaline earth metals with oxygen, hydrogen and water; Alkali and alkaline earth metals in liquid ammonia; Gradation in properties of main group elements in a group; Inert pair effect; Synthesis, structure and properties of diborane, ammonia, silane, phosphine and hydrogen sulphide; Allotropes of carbon; Oxides of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur; Oxoacids of phosphorus, sulphur and chlorine; Halides of silicon and phosphorus; Synthesis and properties of borazine, silicone and phosphazene; Synthesis and reactions of xenon fluorides.

• Transition Metals (d block): Characteristics of d-block 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 with metal-ligand single and multiple bonds (such as metal carbonyls, metal nitrosyls and metallocenes); Homogenous catalysis involving Wilkinson’s catalyst.

• Bioinorganic Chemistry: Essentials and trace elements of life; basic reactions in the biological systems and the role of metal ions, especially Fe2+, and Zn2+; structure and function of myoglobin, haemoglobin and carbonic anhydrase.

• Instrumental Methods of Analysis: Basic principles; instrumentation and simple applications of conductometry, potentiometry and UV-vis spectrophotometry; analyses of water, air and soil samples.

• Analytical Chemistry: Principles of qualitative and quantitative analysis; Acid-base, oxidation-reduction and complexometric titrations using EDTA; Precipitation reactions; Use and types of indicators; Use of organic reagents in inorganic analysis; Radioactivity, nuclear reactions, applications of isotopes; Mathematical treatment in error analysis, elementary statistics and probability theory.

IIT JAM Chemistry (CY) Syllabus 2026: Official PDF

The IIT JAM Chemistry 2026 exam will be organised by IIT Bombay this year. The official IIT JAM Chemistry syllabus PDF is yet to be released. We will provide the direct link to download the IIT JAM Chemistry 2026 syllabus once it is officially released by IIT Bombay.

How to Prepare the IIT JAM Chemistry (CY) Syllabus 2026?

The candidates need to follow a well-planned approach to crack the IIT JAM exam. Here, we are giving you some tips for IIT JAM preparation for the Chemistry (CY) paper.

• Understand the Syllabus: The candidates must thoroughly review the complete IIT JAM Chemistry syllabus. Point out the important IIT JAM Chemistry topics, giving priority to those needing more attention. Create a study plan around these priorities.

• Create a Study Schedule: Once you go through the syllabus, create a study plan that covers all the topics mentioned in the IIT JAM Chemistry syllabus. According to your strengths and weaknesses, allocate ample time to each subject/topic.

• Focus on Fundamental Understanding: Alwaysfocus on understanding the core principles of each topic. Only memorising things will not be enough for this exam. 

• Create Revision Notes: Create short revision notes with important formulas, concepts, and important points for quick last-minute review.

• Practice Previous Year Papers: Solve previous years' papers to understand the exam pattern and question types asked in the IIT JAM Chemistry exam. This will give you an idea about important topics and also help in identifying the areas that require improvement.

• Take Mock Tests: The candidates must take enough mock tests to get familiar with the real exam environment. After each mock test, you should analyse your performance and work on improving it. This practice will also help to improve time management abilities.

Best Books to Prepare for the IIT JAM Chemistry (CY) Syllabus 2026

The selection of study material is very crucial in the preparation for the IIT JAM Chemistry exam. A list of highly recommended books for the IIT JAM Chemistry syllabus paper is given below.

1. Organic Chemistry by Avinash More

2. Inorganic Chemistry by Tauheed Nadeem

3. Physical Chemistry by  Peter Atkins

IIT JAM Chemistry (CY) Exam Pattern 

The IIT JAM Chemistry paper contains questions based on Basic Mathematical Concepts and Chemistry. The IIT JAM Chemistry exam has 60 questions with a total of 100 marks. The total allotted time for this online exam is 3 hours. The IIT JAM Chemistry paper consists of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ), Multiple Select Questions (MSQ), and Numerical Answer Type (NTA) questions. All the important details about the IIT JAM exam pattern for Chemistry are given in the table below.