Demonstration on tempering of iron
Description
This is a simple and quick demonstration of the process oftempering of a solid, and the dramatic
Student-Directed Explorations to teach about ligands
Description
Several years ago I began using a set of Ligand-of-the-Week exercises in my Inorganic course to encourage (force) students to go outside of our textbook and into the chemical reference materials and chemical literature to find examples of ligands that bind to metal ions. My motivation was to get my students to see the wonderful breadth of known metal-ligand complexes and to develop skills associated with analyzing and classifying ligands. My original paper is fairly complete and can be accessed via J. Chem. Educ. which is now available through the ACS website.
19F NMR In-class exercise
Description
This is an in class activity to introduce the topic of multinuclear NMR, which is not covered (beyond 13C) in our sophomore level organic course. It is designed to walk the students through the process of predicting NMR spectra, as they learned in sophomore organic chemistry, but for a different I=1/2 nucleus, in this case 19F, which is I=1/2 and 100% abundant.
Spectroscopy Tutorial
Description
I just found this neat little web-based tutorial at the University of Alberta. It goes through UV-Vis, IR and NMR. Its coverage of IR is almost exactly what I expect my students to know. In typical "stretch and release" fashion, I teach more, but if my students could do the practice problems on the website, I'd be happy.
The site was put together by Greg Nilsson, Enrico Fok, June Ng and Jason Cooke of the Department of Chemistry.
There are also has some great problems for multinuclear NMR.
The site has a tutorial, practice problems, and live feedback. Way cool!
Computational Inorganic Chemistry: An Introduction
Description
The attached lecture provides a brief overview to computational methods and introduces their application to inorganic systems. Two specific literature examples are included. I have given this lecture in a senior level advanced inorganic chemistry class for the past 3 years.
Exploring Photographic Chemistry
Description
This set of experiments is a fun way for students to be experience interesting redox chemistry. I have taught this series of experiments in my first semester junior level inorganic class for the past 5 years. In part 1, students create salted paper prints with different binders. Part 2 involves the synthesis of Prussian blue as cyanotypes are formed on paper and cloth. In part 3, students design t
Pigment Syntheses and Qualitative Analysis
Description
This set of experiments provides an introduction to simple inorganic synthesis and qualitative analysis of inorganic pigments. I have taught this series of experiments in my first semester junior level inorganic class for the past 5 years. In part 1, students synthesize five inorganic pigments. Part 2 involves identifying an unknown inorganic white pigment by chemical and physical tests. These
The Electronic Properties of tris-(2,2'-bipyridine)-ruthenium(II) Lab Experiment(s)
Description
This is a lab experiment designed to cover an array of techniques, including metal complex synthesis, spectroscopy and electrochemistry. Overall, the goal is to synthesize the metal complex Ru(bpy)32+, exchange the counter ion to demonstrate changes in solubility, absorbance and emission properties (including excited state quenching through energy and electron transfer, and ground state oxidation), as well as cyclic voltammetry of the complex.
The History of the 18-Electron Rule
Description
This learning object focuses on fundamental concepts of organometallic chemistry. I use an article published in the Journal of Chemical Education (Jensen, W.B. "The Origin of the 18-Electron Rule," J. Chem. Educ.
Student Literature-Based Organometallic Lecture
Description
I taught an advanced inorganic chemistry course for the first time this past fall. I focused strictly on organometallic chemistry and we used Spessard and Miessler's book. Because this book is focused on transition metal organometallics, I wanted the students to appreciate some of the organometallic chemistry of the s- and p-block (and zinc). Students worked in pairs (the class size was 12) and had most of the semester to research the literature and develop a 40-50 minute lecture. I also had them develop homework questions and an in class activity to help engage the other students.