National ACS Award Winners 2021 LO Collection
This collection of learning objects was created to celebrate the National ACS Award Winners 2021 who are members of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry. The list of award winners is shown below.
Proton-Assisted Reduction of CO2 by Cobalt Aminopyridine Macrocycles (Marinescu)
Description
Various topics ranging from coordination chemistry, electrochemistry, solid state chemistry and point group and symmetry are discussed from the JACS article published by Smaranda C. Marinescu and her co-workers. The article describes the conversion of CO2 to CO by using cobalt aminopyridine macrocycle catalysts.
Terminal Uranium (VI) Nitrides: Photoredox Synthesis and Reactivity (Mazzanti)
Description
This is one of a collection of learning objects developed to honor the 2021 ACS Award Winners in inorganic chemistry. Marinella Mazzanti from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology was awarded the F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry for her outstanding accomplishments in uranium and lanthanide chemistry, including the stabilization of unusual oxidation states and multimetallic cluster synthesis and small-molecule activation. In this paper photoredox chemistry is used to synthesize a uranium (VI) nitride.
reaction of PPh3 with elements--the COVID edition
Description
This is a research-like laboratory experience based on the one posted by Brad Wile (linked below). My students are mostly juniors and have had 2 semesters of organic. This spring they are taking the inorganic laboratory virtually, so I wanted to give them a more exploratory lab experience. Their job will be to watch the YouTube videos to see the synthesis and isolated products, and then propose characterization methods they want to employ to identify both the identity and purity of the compounds.
Development of Expanded Porphyrins (Sessler)
Description
The LO focuses upon classic articles describing the synthesis and characterization of the first "texaphyrin" compounds.
This LO is part of a special VIPEr collection honoring the 2021 ACS National Award recipients in the field of inorganic chemistry. Jonathan L. Sessler was the recipient of the Ronald Breslow Award for Achievement in Biomimetic Chemistry for the discovery of expanded porphyrins, molecular recognition via base-pairing, pyrrole-based anion binding, and demonstrating the power of this biomimetic chemistry in drug discovery.
The Organometallic Chemistry Behind the Polymer of Squares (Chirik)
Description
The discussion covers a 2021 publication by the Chirik group (Nature Chemistry, 2021, DOI: 10.1038/s41557-020-00614-w) which details the discovery of a new way to polymerize butadiene through iron-catalyzed [2+2] cycloadd
5 slides about nomenclature
Description
I have never enjoyed teaching nomenclature, but it is certainly important for students to know what is meant when they see a name out there in the wild. I use Gary's excellent in-class activity (linked below) and then follow up with these slides to cement the knowledge in the last 10-20 minutes of class. The first content slide is a list of nomenclature rules from IUPAC but I normally fill in a list of class-generated rules on the title slide before moving to the truth... our in-class rules are often quite close to the published rules.
SLiThEr #15: "Inclusivity in Inorganic Courses And Beyond"
Description
This is the link to the 15th SLiThEr (Supporting Learning with Interactive Teaching: a Hosted, Engaging Roundtable), presented by Drs. Abby O'Connor and Benny Chan from the The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). The SLiThEr was recorded and posted on YouTube (see the web resources link).
This particular roundtable was presented by two faculty at TCNJ about how they have been working on improving inclusivity in inorganic chemistry and beyond at TCNJ!
Resolution of Werner complexes -- the COVID edition
Description
This is a classic experiment that has been revised and updated numerous times over the years. The experiment can be found in Girolami, Rauchfuss and Angelici, 3rd edition, but that edition removed some purification steps that were present in the earlier edition which has plagued generations of my students with poor resolution of the enantiomers. Marion Cass published a J. Chem. Educ. article in 2015 that included a pH determination and added back in the recrystallization step. This allowed my students to achieve higher yields and greater resolution in Spring 2020.
SLiThEr #14: The Student Experience in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Description
This is the link to the 14th SLiThEr (Supporting Learning with Interactive Teaching: a Hosted, Engaging Roundtable), presented by Sydney Towell and Reilly Gwinn and Hosted by Chip Nataro. The SLiThEr was recorded and posted on YouTube (see the web resources link).
This particular roundtable was presented by two senior undergraduate on their experiences during the pandemic. In addition to talking about the challenges or remote learning and research, they also discuss applying to graduate school and the apprehension they face making a decision without visiting the schools.