A collection of all of the IONiC VIPEr SLiThErs (Supporting Learning with Interactive Teaching: a Hosted, Engaging Roundtable). These events are short presentations on a topic followed by a period of discussion between the presenter and live participants. Each of these events is recorded and posted to the IONiC VIPEr YouTube Channel.
This is a literature discussion regarding electron counting. It involves several opportunities for students to use CBC to determine electron counts themselves. Then, it demonstrates the first case of a 21-electron complex, which leads to great discussion regarding the 18-electron rule. Throughout the discussion, students are introduced to many structural and spectrochemical analyses, some of which may be new to them.
This article focuses on a theoretical analysis of K-edge X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) of Fe(CO)5 in the D3h and C4v geometries. For the context of a one semester inorganic chemistry / physical inorganic chemistry course, the authors use computational methods and experimental X-ray techniques to generate the XANES spectra of two different geometries of Fe(CO)5. Densities of states are used to show overlap between specific orbitals (Fe p with C p), indicating pi-backbonding.
This literature discussion learning object describes the isolation and structure of tetrabenzylthorium, a molecule that was synthesized many years ago but was never thoroughly characterized.
This LO was written by the IONiC Leadership Council to celebrate Steve Koch as the recipient of the 2024 ACS Award for Distinguished Service in Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry. Steve has been a major supporter of the IONiC community since its inception. This LO is based on the article New Members of the Class of [Fe(CN)x(CO)y] Compounds. published in Inorganic Chemistry (DOI: 10.1021/ic015604y).
The Tonks group has helped to revitalize interest in early metal, especially titanium, organometallic chemistry in recent years. Often his group uses Ti complexes for multi-component coupling, increasingly with masked low-valent Ti(II) as an important intermediate. This paper is more fundamental, exploring a ligand based on ortho-terphenoxide since the meta- and para- derivatives were already known. Along the way, they report some interesting NMR and structural information, and finish with some hydroamination catalysis.
I wanted my organometallic class to explore the bonding and spectroscopy of the Kubas dihydrogen complex without having to spend the time doing the entire literature discussion (which is really great and I have done it many times in the past) because I wanted to do it in only about 20-30 minutes in a 75 minute class period. Most of the questions come from the Kubas literature discussion, which I shortened. The IR and reduced mass calculations come from an LO I wrote about arene activation by Jones and Feher.
This is a computer-based activity intended for a bioinorganic chemistry course composed of upper-level undergraduate students. It is helpful for students to be familiar with concepts of electron transfer, including a surface-level introduction to Marcus theory and the inverted region, and photosynthetic charge separation before beginning this activity. However, this activity can easily be adapted to students with other levels of preparation in a bioinorganic course.
This is a digital "escape room" where students determine point groups of molecules and answer follow-up questions to determine four digits. The four digits can be used to unlock a physical lockbox which is brought to class with small prizes inside.
This literature discussion was created during the 2023 IONiC VIPEr workshop at Morgan State University. It highlights the work of Prof. Robert J. Gilliard Jr.