My Notes
Specific Course Information
Course Meetings and Time
Categories
Inorganic chemistry interfaces and overlaps with the other areas of chemistry. Inorganic chemists synthesize molecules of academic and commercial interest, measure properties such as magnetism and unpaired electron spin with sophisticated instruments, study metal ion uptake in living cells, and prepare new materials like photovoltaics. Inorganic chemistry is a diverse field, and we will only be able to touch on some of the chemistry of the 118 elements that currently reside in the periodic table. The major subdisciplines of inorganic chemistry are coordination chemistry, organometallics, bioinorganic chemistry, and solid-state/materials chemistry. Inorganic chemists study the s-, p-, d- and f-block elements, reaction rates, determine reaction mechanism, and prepare new compounds. In this course, you will get a broad overview of some areas, and a more detailed study of others.
By the end of the course you will be able to…
- explain the history and breadth of inorganic chemistry using the inorganic Nobel Prizes
- select and use an appropriate theory or model to describe the structure, bonding, reactivity, and physical properties of inorganic compounds
- construct qualitatively correct MO diagrams for centrosymmetric molecules
- describe MOs as s/p/d, bonding, non-bonding or antibonding, and be able to draw them
- carry out high level quantum calculations on inorganic compounds
- describe the correspondence between qualitative and quantitative MO diagrams
- explain bonding and magnetism in transition metal complexes using MO arguments
- draw mechanisms for common inorganic/organometallic reactions
- explain why and how transition metals are used in biological systems
- describe the chemical reaction catalyzed by a metalloenzyme
- interpret spectroscopic methods (UV-Vis, Xray, NMR and IR) for inorganic compounds
Not all topics are addressed every year; some topics from prior years are below:
- describe how the common crystalline and ionic solids are derived from simple lattices
- describe the composition of more complex solids
- explain the trends in the chemistry of the representative elements
Evaluation
7 quizzes (2 dropped, 5% each)
homework (10%)
in-class (20%)
Final exam (15%)