Protein Electrochemistry 3rd Bioinorganic Workshop

Submitted by Sheila Smith / University of Michigan- Dearborn on Tue, 06/10/2014 - 15:17
Description

This is a 90 minute talk by Fraser Armstrong of Oxford University (http://armstrong.chem.ox.ac.uk) explaining the electrochemistry of proteins immobilized on surfaces.  The talk was presented at the 3rd Bioinorganic Workshop in 2014 at Pennsylvania State University.  The talk contains an excellent basic tutorial on simple electron transfer on immobilized substrates using simple iron sulfur proteins as the primary example.

A Review of 3DMolSym: A Web Resource for Teaching Molecular Symmetry

Submitted by Marion Cass / Carleton College on Fri, 05/23/2014 - 19:22
Description

Introducing you to 3DMolSym:  A Web Resource for Teaching Molecular Symmetry that uses Adobe Shockwave for Visualizations and Animations.

Note there is a slight difference when operating this resource on a Mac or in a Windows Operating Systerm.  On a Mac if you don't change an item (any item) in the pull down menu on the right when the resouce opens, the selection of molecules will be frame shifted by one molecule.  An easy fix is described in the Description below.

The Structure and Symmetry of Metal Tris Chelates

Submitted by Marion Cass / Carleton College on Fri, 05/23/2014 - 15:59
Description

I have provided a link to a Web Resource:  The Strucutre and Symmetry of Metal Tris Chelates which I developed several years ago with my collegue Henry Rzepa from Imperial College London (and which was posted as Web Ware on the Jourmal of Chemical Education Website and is not longer available to view there).  The Web site uses 3D images of known molecules and scripted commands to teach about the symmetry elements and operations in these molecules.  Instruction is also given on assigning absolute configurations and ligand twist conformations.  Animations of the Bailar Twist and Ray Dutt Mech

Inorganic Spectroscopy Introduced Using an Interactive PhET Simulation (Part 1)

Submitted by Alycia Palmer / The Ohio State University on Wed, 04/30/2014 - 20:49
Description

A guided-inquiry activity for the interactive PhET simuation "Molecules and Light" was created to introduce upper-level inorganic laboratory students to inorganic spectroscopy. The activity included here is the first part of a two-day discussion. This activity instructs students to use the PhET simulation "Molecules and Light" to explore how various molecules interact with different energies of electromagnetic radiation (microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet). This activity can also be used in a general chemistry setting as the topics discussed are very basic.

Sheffield ChemPuter

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Tue, 04/29/2014 - 16:42
Description

The Sheffield Chemputer is a site that does a variety of calculations including: isotope patterns, element percentages, reaction yields, oxidation states (for transition metal complexes), electron accounting (for metal complexes), VSEPR shape and classification using the CBC method. At the initial point of this post (April 29, 2014) parts of the site are still under development, but it seems to be off to a good start.

Molecular Orbitals of Square-Planar Tetrahydrides

Submitted by Matt Whited / Carleton College on Fri, 04/18/2014 - 10:15
Description

This in-class activity walks students through the preparation of a molecular-orbital diagram for methane in a square-planar environment.  The students generate ligand-group orbitals (LGOs) for the set of 4 H(1s) orbitals and then interact these with carbon, ultimately finding that such a geometry is strongly disfavored because it does not maximize H/C bonding and leaves a lone pair on C.

First use of the term "bioinorganic"

Submitted by Joshua Telser / Roosevelt University on Wed, 03/19/2014 - 20:19
Description

Thanks to information first provided to me by Prof. Brian M. Hoffman, Northwestern University, I believe that the first documented use of the term "bioinorganic chemistry" occurred at a meeting held at Virginia Tech (VPI&SU) in June, 1970. This meeting was jointly organized with Canadian researchers and was thus an international meeting.

This meeting resulted in an Advances in Chemistry Series book, which has the following URL:

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/book/10.1021/ba-1971-0100

Viewing Jmol Images and Animations (currently blocked) that call a Jmol Applet

Submitted by Marion Cass / Carleton College on Thu, 03/13/2014 - 22:31
Description

 

    Every day when I teach Inorganic Chemistry (and in most of my problem sets and take home exams) I create Web pages to show 3D images of selected molecules to my students.  I am a visual learner and I find the structures beautiful and informative.

    In the past few months, you likely have found that web sites scripted with Jmol scripts calling a Jmol applet (which is a Java applet) are blocked. 

Symmetry Lectures

Submitted by Sabrina Sobel / Hofstra University on Sat, 03/08/2014 - 16:00
Description

Two excellent video presentations on symmetry. The Ted Talk by Marcus du Sautoy is an excellent introduction to the concept of symmetry and systematically describing it. In "Impossible Crystals" Nobel Laureate and physicist Paul Steinhardt discusses the creation of "Impossible crystals": quasi-crystals with five-fold symmetry previously believed impossible.

Five Slides about Tanabe-Sugano Diagrams

Submitted by Sabrina Sobel / Hofstra University on Sat, 03/08/2014 - 15:32
Description

Brief introduction to d-orbital splitting, Russell-Saunders coupling, and application to UV-Vis spectroscopy using Tanabe-Sugano diagrams