Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Thu, 08/06/2020 - 18:44
My Notes
Categories
Prerequisites
First Semester Inorganic Chemistry / Foundation Course in Inorganic Chemistry
Corequisites
No Corequisites
Course Level
Second year
Topics Covered
Bonding models: Discrete molecules
Molecular structure
Physical properties
Symmetry
Visualization
Subdiscipline
Coordination Chemistry
Molecular Structure and Bonding
Spectroscopy and Structural Methods
Description

At a recent SLiThEr workshop, a request was put out for an introduction to the Jahn-Teller effect. I had already prepared several slides showcasing single crystal X-ray data for my class this spring so I put this together with some additional examples from my lab and the literature.  Single crystal XRD data is presented to support the claims.

Attachment Size
powerpoint of Jahn Teller effect 2.12 MB
Learning Goals

These slides allow an instructor to go over the basics of Jahn Teller distortions, with a brief explanation of the theory but also the electronic structure behind the theory.

Implementation Notes

I haven't used this in a class in its current version but I have shown most of these slides at various times. The students liked seeing their own data (Mn and Co acac complexes) in class. There are some instructor comments in the notes field of the powerpoint file.

Time Required
25-35 minutes
Evaluation
Evaluation Methods

I would ask a followup problem set or test question asking students to predict which complexes are likely to be perfectly octahedral and which are likely to undergo a JT distortion

Evaluation Results

Have not done explicitly...

Creative Commons License
Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike CC BY-NC-SA
Subscriptions