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Greetings Colleagues,
Although I am on research leave for one semester at OSU, I still need to think about my classes for the Spring 2013 semester. Surprisingly, I was motivated to work on some ideas tonight. Previously, I have used the textbook "Descriptive Inorganic, Coordination, and Solid-State Chemistry," by Rodgers. I love that book, but I found myself supplementing lots of other important topics (symmetry, point groups, MO theory). So now I plan to use Miessler and Tarr. I am thinking about content and the order I want to discuss them during the semester. There is no law that says I have to follow the order of the book! What do you think of the following sequence of topics? My goal is to introduce coordination chemistry earlier in the semester. Also, I want to discuss bioinorganic and environmental chem. This is not the final list:
Ch. 1 Intro to inorg
Ch. 2 Atomic Structure
Ch. 3 Simple Bonding Theory
Ch. 9 Coordination Chemistry (selected sections from Ch. 10, 11, and 12 could be here as well)
Ch. 4 Symmetry
Ch. 5 MO Theory
Ch. 6 Acid Base Chemistry
Ch. 8 Main Group Chemistry
Ch. 16 Bioinorganic and Environmental Chemistry
Ch. 13 Intro to Organometallic Chemistry
It seems like that's a REALLY big move from Rodgers. One of the reasons I use M&T is because I put a pretty strong emphasis on symmetry and MO theory in my class. I think M&T do a good job with that, and they use it well in the chapters on coord chem that follow. I'm not sure their chapters on coord chem are all that great without the MO parts. Rodgers is probably much better in that regard.
In other words, when I read what you've written, I'd be tempted to go with a book that emphasizes coordination chem more, without the heavy reliance on MO theory that M&T has.
Joanne,
Thanks for your comments. They are helpful. When I used Roger's book I simply supplemented the chapter on symmetry (M&T) and MO theory (M&T). I wonder if there is another book I should consider?
Sibrina
I really like Inorganic Chemistry by Huheey, Keiter, and Keiter for discussion of symmetry and bonding. I appreciate that the examples are a little old and that the book is not a "pretty" as M&T, but it might be something to consider if you're already drawing from more than one text.