Thinking about Mechanisms of Metal Ion Exchange
Over the past several years, I've been doing this in-class exercise shortly after discussing mechanisms of ligand exchange. The exercise expands on the lecture material by having the students think about metal ions, rather than ligands, exchanging from a coordination complex. The students are encouraged to work in groups of 3-5 and actively discuss the material amongst themselves before we go over it as a class. I do not provide the students with the article ahead of time, so that they may come up with their own conclusions, as opposed to simply repeating those of the authors.