Fluoro Analogue of Wilkinson's Catalyst

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Wed, 04/02/2008 - 01:24
Description
This paper describes the synthesis and characterization of the fluoro analogue of Wilkinson's catalyst [(Ph3P)3RhF]. The fluorine for chlorine switch causes an interesting change in the reactivity, promoting activation of C-Cl bonds in chloroarenes. Discussion of this paper nicely pairs with the chemistry of Wilkinson's catalyst, highlighting periodic trends in bonding and reactivity.

Zinc-Zinc Bonds

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Fri, 03/28/2008 - 02:51
Description
This paper in Science reports the synthesis of decamethyldizincocene, a stable compound of Zn(I) with a zinc-zinc bond. The title compound and the starting material, bis(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)zinc, offer a nice link to metallocene chemistry, electron counting, and different modes of binding of cyclopentadienyl rings as well as more advanced discussions of MO diagrams. More fundamental discussion could focus on the question of what constitutes the evidence for a chemical bond, in this case, the existence of a zinc-zinc bond.

Two Communications on Bioinorganic and Coordination Chemistry

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 20:39
Description
This assignment would make a good choice for a first attempt at actually having a discussion on primary literature articles since these are two short communications. They also touch on two important applications of coordination chemistry so might be appropriate early in a course, namely modeling biological systems and non-linear optical applications.

student choice experiment

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 19:26
Description

The students prepare a short proposal outlining their desired target and why they want to make it.  Chemicals are ordered, and during the last 3-4 weeks of the semester, the students carry out their synthesis.  The writeup is as a paper submtited to the journal Inorganic Chemistry using the template from the journal web page.

Buchwald/Hartwig amination

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 19:05
Description

I wanted a modern organometallic experiment showing the utility of Pd for coupling reactions.  Students attempted a variety of reaction conditions during the spring of 2007 and 2008.  Eventually,  we were able to get the reaction to work with a variety of primary amines (linear, cyclohexylamine) and t-butylamine.  Yields are not great (40-80%) and this experiment needs some optimization.  However, products were observed by GC-MS and NMR.

Bercaw vs Bergman

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 13:26
Description

Relative metal-hydrogen, -oxygen, -nitrogen, and -carbon bond strengths for organoruthenium and organoplatinum compounds; equilibrium studies of Cp*(PMe3)2RuX and (DPPE)MePtX systems
Henry E. Bryndza, Lawrence K. Fong, Rocco A. Paciello, Wilson Tam, John E. Bercaw
J. Am. Chem. Soc.; 1987 ; 109(5); 1444-1456.

Manganese Carbonyl experiment

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Sat, 11/17/2007 - 13:09
Description

This experiment has been modified and expanded from the J. Chem. Ed. article linked below (J. Chem.

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