... I'll play

I think the most important things to cover are the role of amino acids as ligands for metals, the role of the organic "spinach" to hold the metal in werid shapes (the entatic state, I'm thinking of trigonal planar irons in nitrogenase or the 1/2 way between D4h and Td Cu ions in plastocyanin).

I also use bioinorganic as an opportunity to teach "weird" spectroscopies that they won't see elsewhere, like X-ray, EXAFS, EPR, Møssbauer, etc.

 I'd love to see what a real bioinorganic chemist has to say though!

I'm not a bioinorganic chemist either, although several years ago, I did agree to team-teach a seminar course in bioinorganic chemistry with a biochemistry colleague...

I like to illustrate for students the different approaches in understanding a particular problem in bioinorganic chemistry: for example, characterizing the structure of the active site of a metalloenzyme vs. the use of small molecule model complexes.

...but it has been a while, so I might need to update my materials! I even taught a 1/2 credit bioinorganic course many years ago. I agree with Adam's suggestions about teaching amino acids as ligands, the entatic state hypothesis and how it leads to faster reactions, and how we know something about the structure of metal ions in biological systems through various spectroscopies and magnetic studies. Here are some other important ideas from my perspective: The important qualities of transition metals in particular that lead to their roles in biology: acidity (Lewis and Bronsted), and their redox properties The importance of the protein in protecting the reactive metal center from unwanted side reactions The role of small molecule model studies (advantages and disadvantages) I like talking about O2 carriers of various types (esp hemoglobin) as well as some metal-based drugs and/or diagnostic agents (cisplatin, MRI contrast agents, etc.).

I think all the comments so far are in line with what I teach.  Every few years I get to teach a junior/senior level elective in bioinorganic.  Because there's a mix of biochem and chem majors, I usually start with a brief review of TM complexes and basic biochem.  I agree - it's important to show how biomolecules like amino acids can be used as ligands - but please don't forget that nucleotides can be ligands, too!  

I also cover the "weird" spectroscopies.  Topics I tend to do (although it varies from year to year) are metal ion uptake & availability, metals in medicine, toxic metal ions, etc.

 I normally get at the range of research in bioinorganic by having students present papers from the literature.  That normally shows them how the field runs from people doing small molecule enzyme mimics (which is very inorganic) to ones doing mechanistic work on metalloenzymes (which is very biochem).  Using papers from the literature also helps show how the "weird" spectroscopies are used.

These are the topics that I include in my syllabus for a bioinorganic course I designed a few years back. The course is built on case studies. I published a paper on the course a few years back in The Chemical Educator (Smith, S.R..“ The Primary Literature as Text: An Undergraduate Level Topics Course in Bioinorganic Chemistry for Chemistry, Biology and Biochemistry Majors.” The Chemical Educator, 2006, 11 (1), 9-12.). I. Inorganic Chemistry for Biologists a. Electronic structure of metals (review of electron configurations, redox flexibility, Lewis acid base chemistry) b. Geometric considerations (review of VSEPR, exceptions to octet rule) II. Biology for Chemists a. Ribonucleic Acids (RNA to DNA) b. Protein/Enzyme structure (Amino acids, 1°-3° structure) III. Instrumentation and Methods in Bioinorganic Chemistry (this would be the wierd (and not so weird spectroscopic techniques to which everyone keeps referring) IV. Metallotransport and storage V. Metalloproteins (metals playing structural roles) VI. Metalloenzymes (acid/ base and redox roles) VII. Case Study Presentations As an intro in another course, I think the big points to stress are the flexibility conveyed by the metal in terms of redox and structure, as well as it's Lewis Acid nature and the role that plays in both binding the metal center and activating acid base reactions. Sheila Smith Associate Professor of Chemistry University of Michigan- Dearborn 313-583-6399(office) 734-788-8144 (cell) To a scientist, a thought experiment is an argument that you can run through in your head, after which you understand what's going on so well that there's no need to do a real experiment, which is of course a great saving in time and money and prevents you from getting embarassingly inconvenient results. - Terry Pratchett, 'The Last Continent'