This is a research-like laboratory experience based on the one posted by Brad Wile (linked below). My students are mostly juniors and have had 2 semesters of organic. This spring they are taking the inorganic laboratory virtually, so I wanted to give them a more exploratory lab experience. Their job will be to watch the YouTube videos to see the synthesis and isolated products, and then propose characterization methods they want to employ to identify both the identity and purity of the compounds. 

This is a classic experiment that has been revised and updated numerous times over the years. The experiment can be found in Girolami, Rauchfuss and Angelici, 3rd edition, but that edition removed some purification steps that were present in the earlier edition which has plagued generations of my students with poor resolution of the enantiomers. Marion Cass published a J. Chem. Educ. article in 2015 that included a pH determination and added back in the recrystallization step. This allowed my students to achieve higher yields and greater resolution in Spring 2020.

For our virtual offering of inorganic chemistry laboratory at Harvey Mudd College in Spring 2021, I made some videos and collected some high quality data (IR, 1H NMR, MS, UV-Vis, mp, and X-ray diffraction) that I will make available for my students. The videos show the synthesis of Co and Mn acacs, the difference between as-prepared and recrystallized compounds, making solutions for UV-Vis and Evans method NMR, and making Evans method capillary tubes. The procedures for the synthesis of these compounds is found in Woolins (either the first or second editions). 

In this experiment, Students synthesize a Schiff Base and the corresponding aluminum complex to measure fluorescence. The lab provides exposure to air-free synthetic techniques, including the use of Schlenk Line techniques and safe handling of sure-seal bottles. Following data collection, students will be able to explain fluorescence spectroscopy and compare it to absorbance spectroscopy.