I teach advanced inorganic chemistry and wanted to find ways to bring in the primary literature, applications, and current research areas. Students read the article, "Role of Defects in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Chemical Sensors" by Eric S. Snow, Nanoletters 2006, 6 (8) pp.
This learning object is a literature discussion based on a paper published in Nature (Labinger, J. A.; Bercaw, J. E. Nature 2002, 417, 507-514; doi:
This is an in class exercise that I use to emphasize the need for metal ion transport and storage in biochemistry. Applying the Van't Hoff equation to the Ksp value at 25°C for ferric hydroxide, students calculate the iron concentration at which ferric hydroxide would begin to precipitate out in the blood. It' s an interesting problem that requires very little math beyond that used in gen chem, and the answer is in stark contrast to the amount of iron that we actually store in our bodies.
I was taught (many years ago) the common misconception that fitting the linearized form of the Eyring equation overstates the error in the intercept because on a 1/T axis, the intercept is at infinite temperature, and the intercept is far from the real data. While researching various methods of data fitting, I stumbled across this great article from the New Journal of Chemistry (New J.
This is a literature discussion assignment in which students read a paper, come up with their own answers to the provided questions (and submit them). This is followed by a general in-class discussion on the paper. This particular article deals with hydrosilyation of carbonyl compounds by a Re catalyst and describes the mechanism and kinetics in detail. I found it a good paper to help students connect their P-chem (and inorganic) kinetics with a "real" system. As part of the literature assignment, I also ask students to draw an MO diagram of a simple substrate (for review).