This contains three parts: A "Pre-Read" section for students to read before coming to class, an in-class worksheet to be worked in groups, and instructor keys for the worksheet.

The purpose of this exercise is to familiarize and give practice with identifying major classes of reaction (oxidative addition, etc.) in an organometallic catalytic cycle. After this exercise, students should be able to do the same for a new catalytic cycle provided by the instructor on a homework set or exam.

This pre-supposes that students are familiar with electron counting and organic reaction types, but does not presume prior knowledge of organometallic reaction types.

In many textbooks, the distinction between mechanism (e.g., stepwise oxidative addition) and reaction class (oxidative addition) is not always clear. Students can identify reaction class simply by looking at reactants and products, whereas identifying mechanisms requires more advanced understanding of organometallic chemistry. Thus, this exercise focuses on the more basic skill, reaction class identification.

There is no universal set of terms or agreed upon classification of reactions in organometallic chemistry, so I have tried to create one here. Many, many other categorization schemes could be imagined, and some might be far superior. I would be eager for someone to take this and improve upon it to create their own exercise to resubmit to VIPEr.