Miessler and Tarr is an inorganic textbook which is is best suited to an upper-division one-semester inorganic course, though there is more material than can be covered in a single semester, so some choice of topics is necessary. It is very well suited for a course oriented around structure, bonding, and reaction chemistry of transition metal compounds, but is very limited in its treatment of solids, main-group, descriptive chemistry, and bioinorganic. Pchem would be helpful but is not necessary. In particular, the treatment of MO theory is very in-depth. The quality of end-of chapter p
Housecroft and Sharpe (Inorganic Chemistry, 3ed): This is a comprehensive inorganic textbook designed primarily for students at the Junior/Senior level. P-Chem would not be needed as a prerequisite for this text, but would be helpful. It includes both theoretical and descriptive material along with special topics, enough for a two semester course though it is easily adaptable to a one-semester "advanced inorganic" course by choosing only some topics. It is written in a clear and generally readable style and the full-color graphic contribute to student understanding.
This is just a little worksheet that I use in a General Chemistry course to teach Gibbs Free Energy calculations and the idea of a coupled reaction, while foreshadowing ideas from metallurgy and electrochemistry (sacrificial reductants, entropy-driven smelting, fuels as reductants) for the end of the course when I generally address these.
This communication describes the first example of a discrete tetrahedral tellurate ion, analogous to sulfate and selenate. This assignment was used as an introduction to the inorganic literature early in the semester. Pre-discussion questions were adapted from the "How to Read an Inorganic Paper" learning object by Hilary Eppley. In class discussion focused on communications vs. full papers, the essentials of X-ray crystallographic information, multinuclear NMR, and the periodic trends discussed in this paper.
The reaction chemistry of aqueous copper(II) ions with ammonia is commonly used in both general chemistry and inorganic chemistry texts to illustrate the equilibria of complex ions in solution. Although the system initially seems simple, further analysis of the chemical species involved shows that it is in fact quite complicated. First of all, ammonia is a weak base and its basic equilibrium reaction must be taken into account. Second, although the aquated copper(II) ion is the most prevalent ion in solution before ammonia is added, this species is itself a weak acid. Third, a series of
Students assigned a portion of the periodic table. Generally, a student is given a column of the main group, but this can easily be varied, depending on the size of the class.
I have students construct Lewis structures on the board starting at the noble gases and working backwards to the group 14 elements. We talk about both second period then heavier elements. As we move across the period we transition from molecular solids to extended solids.
This is a nice transition from molecular chemistry to extended compounds. I use this as a bridge into the solid state portion of the course because it allows me to review Lewis structures, trends in bond energies, and provide some descriptive chemistry information.