At a recent local section meeting I talked with some folks about VIPEr. And one of the complaints (and a very fair one) is the bewildering array of content to sort through. We are perfectly willing to admit, there is a lot of great content on the site that can be a bit intimidating to sort through. While our search engine has improved, it is far from perfect and can often lead to lots of results that you have to sort through. In thinking about ways we could try and help you navigate the content, I thought of using BITeS to help a little bit. Unfortunately our search engine isn’t quite Google in that it doesn’t bring you the top results. So, in what I hope will be a semi-regular BITeS feature, I am going to bring you Top 10 lists (Letterman is retired, so I feel free to use that). In this BITeS there are the Top 10 most Favorited/Adopted Literature Discussion LO’s (in case you aren’t sure how to do this, on every LO you have a little section marked as My Notes where you can Favorite or Adopt an LO, these will then show up under the appropriate heading under the My Viper menu).
8. Wait, I thought you said this was a top 10 list! Well, if you look closely, this one actually goes to 11. Yes, there are some ties. And in this case we have a 4-way tie for 8th.
Modeling the FeB center in Bacterial Nitric Oxide Reductase: A Reading Guide by Sheila Smith. This reading guide helps students through a paper on how classic coordination chemistry and steric factors help model bioinorganic systems.
Henry Taube and Electron Transfer by Bradley Wile. Highlighting the interesting points in a viewpoint article by Taube on electron transfer mechanisms.
Bonding and Electronic Structure of a 14-electron W(II) bound to 4-electron pi-donors by Hilary Eppley. Applying electron counting ideas to bonding of organometallic ligands.
Werner from Beyond the Grave by Maggie Geselbracht. A look at the structure of bridging oxo systems.
5. Like I said, there are some ties.
In Lewis’ Own Words by Nancy B. S. Williams. The origin of the octet rule from Lewis himself.
Learning Science! Think like a Researcher! by Tina McCartha. Highlighting an essay on how we learn about science.
A Redox-activate MRI Contrast Agent that Switches Between Paramagnetic and Diamagnetic States by Vivian Ezeh, et al. From our workshop at Northwestern, this LO is about the development of a cobalt MRI contrast agent.
3. Analyzing a journal article for basic themes, roles of authors, and the scientific method by Darren Achey, et al. Our second workshop contribution, this time from the workshop at the University of Washington, this LO focuses on the electrochemical hydrogenation of a nickel compound.
2. The N5+ Cation: Explosive Chemistry and Raman Analysis by Maggie Geselbracht. An examination of a very unusual cation.
And the most Favorited/Adopted Literature Discussion LO is…
Using Solid State Chemistry and Crystal Field Theory to Design a New Blue Solid by Barb Reisner. Discussion of a paper using doping to create new pigments.
Hopefully you find this list useful. I also hope you find this as motivation to Favorite/Adopt some of the LOs you have found useful. You can even Favorite/Adopt your own LOs! Maybe next time I run this list we will have a new number 1!