Introduction to X-ray crystallography

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Tue, 04/21/2009 - 17:00
Description

At the end of my inorganic course, I teach several "cool" analytical techniques that inorganic chemists use.  These techniques are discussed within the context of bioinorganic chemistry, and I typically cover EXAFS/XANES, X-ray crystallography, EPR and Mössbauer.  I provide this website to the students as supplemental reading material for X-ray crystallography, which is not typically covered in depth in an introductory inorganic text.  The first link is the main website, but I usually only focus on the 2nd and 3rd links which covering the experimental setup for an X-ra

Inorganic Chemistry Spectroscopy Tutorial: Theoretical Principles and Applications

Submitted by Jason Cooke / Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Canada on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 16:02
Description

We have developed an online tutorial that demonstrates the fundamental principles and applications of the various types of spectroscopy that students will encounter in the inorganic chemistry laboratory, namely infrared spectroscopy (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis).  The tutorial has been designed as a stand-alone interactive resource that can either introduce the fundamental aspects of spectroscopy from first principles or serve as a supplement for students who prefer to learn visually in an individual setti

Materials Chemistry: UW MRSEC Library of Slide Shows for Class Presentations

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Mon, 04/13/2009 - 17:43
Description

The Interdisciplinary Education Group at the University of Wisconsin Madison Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) has a fabulous website with a wide variety of great resources for teaching about materials and the nanoworld at all levels.  A favorite "corner" of this website that I refer to a lot in my own teaching is the library of so-called Resource Slides on a variety of topics.  These Resource Slides are divided up into 36 topical Slide Shows and include wonderful graphics to use in class presentations.   Slide Shows include:

IR Spectroscopy of Rhodium Carbonyl Clusters

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Tue, 04/07/2009 - 02:07
Description
The structures of neutral rhodium carbonyl clusters containing two, four, and six rhodium atoms have been known for some time.  In a recent paper (J. Am. Chem.

Interactive Spreadsheets for Inorganic Chemistry

Submitted by Lori Watson / Earlham College on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 15:28
Description

This web site contains a number of interactive spreadsheets, most of which are applicable to inorganic chemistry (or a physical chemistry class that uses inorganic examples).  Here's the list of the most relevant for most inorganic classes:

 

ABC kinetics - interactively plot concentration versus reaction extent for A, B and C in A -> B -> C by varying k values

House: Inorganic Chemistry

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Mon, 01/12/2009 - 15:35
Description

House (Inorganic chemistry):  The book is divided into 5 parts:  first, an introductory section on atomic structure, symmetry, and bonding; second, ionic bonding and solids; third, acids, bases and nonaqueous solvents; fourth, descriptive chemistry; and fifth, coordination chemistry.  The first three sections are short, 2-4 chapters each, while the descriptive section (five chapters) and coordination chemistry section (seven chapters covering ligand field theory, spectroscopy, synthesis and reaction chemistry, organometallics, and bioinorganic chemistry.) are longer.  Each chapter includes

Bonding and Electronic Structure of a 14-electron W(II) bound to 4-electron pi-donors

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 12:01
Description

This paper is a meaty communication that covers novel bonding of 4 e- π-donors to a 14-electron species. Requires students to apply their knowledge of electron counting and organometallic bonding to ligands that are acting in novel ways.  This also includes exercises dealing with chemical information and general questions that require students to put the science in context. 

Inorganic Chemistry Just Makes You Want to Sing!

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Sat, 12/27/2008 - 19:35
Description

Here is a fun way to learn about inorganic chemistry!  These songs were composed and passed along to me by Tom Mallouk at Penn State with his permission to post here on VIPEr.  I Can't Get No Bragg Diffraction was a joint effort put together one year at a Gordon Research Conference on Solid State Chemistry.  Sorry, no recording!  The tune n-doped, recorded by the Band Edges, covers the electronic structure behind semiconductor devices.  Download the lyrics for both and the mp3 file for n-doped!  There is a

Putting electrochemistry to use: Design of new lithium-ion battery anodes

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Fri, 11/28/2008 - 20:55
Description
This learning object focuses on a discussion of a recent paper that highlights the application of electrochemistry in inorganic materials chemistry: “Direct Electrodeposition of Cu2Sb for Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes” by James M. Mosby and Amy L. Prieto, J. Am. Chem. Soc.

Werner From Beyond the Grave

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Mon, 06/09/2008 - 19:11
Description
This short communication in 2001 established the structure of a dinuclear cobalt complex based on a single crystal X-ray diffraction study of crystals taken from the Werner collection. The X-ray structure clarified the nature of the bridging ligands including a bridging superoxo group. As such, it offers a nice entry point into the nomenclature of bridging ligands, a discussion of O2 related ligands such as peroxide and superoxide, and the evolution of characterization techniques from Werner's time to the present.
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