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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This is a virtual adaptation of a buffer capacity lab experiment using the chemcollective digital workspace. Students learn to make buffers in different ways and then test the capacity of their buffers to understand what makes an optimal buffer.
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.
For our virtual offering of inorganic chemistry laboratory at Harvey Mudd College in Spring 2021, I made some videos and collected some high quality data (IR, 1H NMR, MS, UV-Vis, mp, and X-ray diffraction) that I will make available for my students. The videos show the synthesis of Co and Mn acacs, the difference between as-prepared and recrystallized compounds, making solutions for UV-Vis and Evans method NMR, and making Evans method capillary tubes. The procedures for the synthesis of these compounds is found in Woolins (either the first or second editions).
In this literature discussion, students are asked to explore the chemistry behind a eta-1 to eta-2 linkage photoisomer of sulfur dioxide bound to pentammine osmium. There are questions that tie to chemical structure and the nature of the two bonding modes of the ligand as well as an examination of the spectroscopic properties of the complex in the solid state. Two of the questions ask students to draw some conclusions based on their knowledge of periodic trends and the sigma donor ability of ligands.
A little more than 5 slides.... but hey batteries are important! Often there are not good slides available to introduce batteries, broadly, so I went a made them! These slides were also created to accompany the LO on redox flow batteries. This set of slides reviews alkaline batteries introduced in general chemistry and transitions to more modern approaches to batteries including lithium ion batteries and redox flow batteries. This work highlights the 2019 Nobel Prize work for lithium ion batteries.