Dioxygen Activation in Non-heme Iron Enzymes

Submitted by Gerard Rowe / University of South Carolina Aiken on Fri, 07/20/2012 - 09:26
Description

This lecture provides a short introduction to the other half of biological iron chemistry:  enzymes that do not contain a porphyrin group that ligates the iron atom.  There are several important applications for non-heme iron in cells, both mammalian and bacterial.  Oxygen activating non-heme iron enzymes fall into a few basic categories and includes mononuclear iron monooxygenases and dioxygenases, and binuclear iron monooxygenases. The requirements to activate and utilize dioxygen will be given.

Electrocatalysis and Proton Reduction

Submitted by Matt Whited / Carleton College on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 16:46
Description

These slides provide a brief introduction to the concept of electrocatalysis using the glyoximato cobalt catalysts for hydrogen production recently examined by Peters, Gray, and others.  They provide a suitable introduction to the topic for students interested in reading the primary literature on these topics.

An Introduction to Electrocatalysis: Hydrogen Evolution from Mono and Binuclear Cobalt Complexes

Submitted by Abby O'Connor / The College of New Jersey on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 10:45
Description

This learning object was developed at the 2012 NSF sponsored cCWCS VIPEr workshop at UNC-CH where we were fortunate to hear Jillian Dempsey present this research that has appeal to students. This work focuses on an exciting and promising strategy to develop new technology to support a solar energy economy. This literature discussion leads students through a current application in the field of electrocatalysis.

Ir-based Catalysis of Alkyl Halides: Scope, Mechanism, and Unexpected Reactivity Patterns

Submitted by Matt Hartings / American University on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 10:34
Description

This literature review covers a paper by the Brookhart group in which they describe a very interesting catalytic route for reducing alkyl halides. The paper describes the catalytic mechanism in great detail and shows an unexpected trend in relative reactivities (Br > Cl > I and primary > secondary). One of the primary benefits for using this paper is that it can enable your students to rationalize a mechanism consistent with many different data sets.

Oxidative Suzuki-Type C-H Functionalization (Learning to Read a Detailed Organic Paper)

Submitted by Matt Whited / Carleton College on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 21:09
Description

This is a literature excercise I used in my upper-level organometallic course to guide students through some of the important points of a detailed organic/organometallic paper.  I have found that the first hurdles in some of these papers involve getting students to the point where they can understand (a) what specific reaction is being performed, and (b) what the role of each reagent is.  This set of questions includes a mix of material, including some things that are specifically stated in the article and some that are implied or referenced elsewhere.  I found that excercises like this one

Colored Note Cards as a Quick and Cheap Substitute for Clickers

Submitted by Chris Bradley / Mount St. Mary's University on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 10:23
Description

For many years I have resisted using clickers, mainly because at our university there is no standard universal clicker. I wanted to keep student costs as low as possible but also desired the type of live feedback during a lecture that clicker questions can provide. In both my general chem. (200-300 students) and upper division courses (50-75 students), I now pass out 4 or 5 colored notecards on the first day of class and make sure everyone has one of each color.

The Eyring Equation

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Thu, 09/29/2011 - 01:46
Description

I was taught (many years ago) the common misconception that fitting the linearized form of the Eyring equation overstates the error in the intercept because on a 1/T axis, the intercept is at infinite temperature, and the intercept is far from the real data. While researching various methods of data fitting, I stumbled across this great article from the New Journal of Chemistry (New J.

Towards "Personalized Solar Energy": An Inexpensive Oxygen-Evolving Catalyst

Submitted by Anne Bentley / Lewis & Clark College on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 15:54
Description

In the two years since this article was published, it has jump-started a large amount of research in the area of cobalt-based catalysts for solar water splitting.  The paper describes the electrochemical synthesis and oxygen-evolution capabilities of a Co-phosphate catalyst under very mild conditions.  The paper can stimulate discussion of many topics found in the inorganic curriculum, including electrochemistry, semiconductor chemistry, transition metal ion complex kinetic trends, and solid state and electrochemical characterization techniques.

Kinetics of Ligand Substitution Reactions of a Pt(II) Complex

Submitted by Scott Cummings / Dominican University on Sat, 07/17/2010 - 11:47
Description
This inorganic lab experiment, focusing on the kinetics of ligand-substitution reactions of a square-planar Pt(II) complex, involves collecting UV-vis absorption data and analyzing the results to determine a rate law to support one of three proposed mechanisms.

Bioinorganic Techniques in a Nutshell

Submitted by Betsy Jamieson / Smith College on Tue, 09/08/2009 - 14:20
Description
This website is from the Center for Metalloenzyme Studies at the University of Georgia.  It contains brief summaries of common techniques used in bioinorganic chemistry.  I really liked that for each technique lists what kind of information you can obtain, as well as what the limitations of the method are.  It also provides examples of what kinds of questions can be answered with each technique.  It does not provide in-depth information about how each method works, but rather simply lists the basic facts about each technique.  
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