This is a literature-based end of semester project.  After a semester of introducing literature in the form of typical literature discussions, this assignment is given to small groups.  It may be easily amended or added to.  Each group is provided with a paper and accompanying questions that are similar to the literature discussions they have done over the semester.  They then must use these guiding questions to assemble a presentation to the class.  The topics chosen and the guiding questions are designed to provide students with a taste of the many areas of inorganic chemistry that are no

This article focuses on a theoretical analysis of K-edge X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) of Fe(CO)₅ in the D_3h and C_4v 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 LO was created for the ACS National Award Winners 2024 collection. Dr. Charles Campbell was the recipient of the 2024 Gabor A. Somorjai Award for Creative Research in Catalysis. This LO is based on the article "Energetics of Adsorbed Formate and Formic Acid on Cu(111) by Calorimetry,” (ACS Catal.

This literature discussion was created for the ACS National Award Winners 2024 collection. Dr. James McCusker was the recipient of the Josef Michl ACS Award in Photochemistry.

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 literature discussion LO was created for the ACS National Award Winners 2024 collection. Dr. Holger Braunschweig was the recipient of the 2024 M. Frederick Hawthorne Award in Main Group Inorganic Chemistry. This LO is based on a figure from the article "Transition metal borylene complexes" published in Chem. Soc. Rev., 2013, 42, 3197. DOI: 10.1039/c3cs35510a.

In fall 2023, Jarad Mason from Harvard University was awarded the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry for his contributions to the fields of phase-change materials, microporous materials, and materials chemistry.  In this literature discussion, students will examine his recent paper “Microporous water with high gas solubilities," Nature 2022, 608, 712-718 which is related to that work.