Siderophore Building: In class Exercise

Submitted by Sheila Smith / University of Michigan- Dearborn on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 21:25
Description
This is an in-class exercise (brainstorming) designed to lead the student through the design of a siderophore (or "iron lover") by applying his knowledge of Lewis acid- base chemistry (specifically HSAB theory), geometry and entropy. This is a good start for a discussion of iron transport and storage in the bioinorganic section of Inorganic II (transition metals). I also use it in my junior level descriptive course when we discuss coordination chemistry.

Metals in Acid Base Chemistry

Submitted by Sheila Smith / University of Michigan- Dearborn on Sun, 10/18/2009 - 08:26
Description

This is a simple in class exercise to review acid- base equilibria and to lead the students to thinking about metals as both Lewis and Bronsted- Lowry acids. I use it as a discussion starter when I introduce the role of metals in biological acid/base chemistry in my upper division inorganic course, but it can be used at any level once acid-base equilibria has been covered.

Bioinorganic Chemistry- Metals in Purely Structural Roles

Submitted by Sheila Smith / University of Michigan- Dearborn on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 14:28
Description
This is a discussion leader to bring students into the topic of "Metals in Biochemistry- Structural Roles" by reminding them of pieces they already know from General Chemistry and other courses.

One hour lanthanides overview

Submitted by Ana de Bettencourt-Dias / University of Nevada, Reno on Tue, 09/29/2009 - 14:51
Description
This is a set of 36 slides with an overview on the history, production, industrial applications, coordination and organometallic chemistry of the lanthanides.  This is a condensed version of a semester long course for graduate students.  It does not include any lanthanides spectroscopy.  Some of the content was obtained from Prof. Jean-Claude Bunzli's lectures on lanthanides and actinides.

Coordination chemistry via Inorganic Chemistry ASAP

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:23
Description
This in-class activity is a fun way to show students how to apply basic concepts of coordination chemistry to complicated systems that appear in a recent issue of Inorganic Chemistry. After quickly reviewing types of ligands (monodentate, chelating, bridging), how we assign charge to ligands and metals in complexes, and the idea of coordination number, I took my class through a number of "real world" examples from the latest ASAP edition of Inorganic Chemistry.

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.  

In-Class Review of Symmetry Operations and Point Groups

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:50
Description

This in-class activity was used on the first day of Advanced Inorganic Chemistry in lieu of lecture to review symmetry operations and point groups in small molecules.  The learning object was adapted to a small group discussion format from a fundamental quiz posted by Barbara Reisner (James Madison University) and a problem set question posted by Adam Johnson (Harvey Mudd College).

IUCr Teaching Resources

Submitted by Barbara Reisner / James Madison University on Thu, 08/13/2009 - 07:26
Description

In the past, I've always found the IUCr crystallographic pamphlets to be useful when teaching diffraction. They've reorganized their website to make their educational resources easier to find. On this link, you can find the IUCr teaching pamphlets, a short description of how to grow crystals,  and other crystallography web resources.

 Teaching Pamphlet Topics

First Day Review of Atomic Orbitals

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 22:30
Description

This is an interactive small-group discussion activity I did on the first day of sophomore-level inorganic chemistry to get students to interact with each other and brainstorm to collectively review what they knew about atomic orbitals.  I also wanted to "set the stage" for non-lecture type activities in this class.  I adapted this in-class activity from one posted by Joanne Stewart (Hope College) with additional questions from a fundamental quiz posted by Barbara Reisner

Energy Nuggets: Engineering Viruses to Build a Better Battery

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Mon, 07/06/2009 - 15:29
Description
This literature discussion activity is one of a series of “Energy Nuggets,” small curricular units designed to illustrate: The Role of Inorganic Chemistry in the Global Challenge for Clean Energy Production, Storage, and Use.
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