This is a powerpoint presentation that was developed for and used at the 2016 VIPEr workshop on Organometallic chemistry at the University of Michigan. Organometallic chemistry is a broad field, and we have divided ourselves into different classes based on what we study. For example, the reactivity of the third row metals is often quite different from that of the fourth/fifth rows. Early (high oxidation state with anionic ligands typically) and Late (low oxidation state with neutral ligands typically) metal complexes have different properties and d electron counts.

Students are asked to choose a type of reaction from a set list (included), determine appropriate starting materials and the resulting product and present the reaction as though they accomplished it in the laboratory setting (5 min oral presentation with a 1 page paper).  I asked the students to perform both a rough draft presentation (to me) and final draft presentation (to all students in laboratory).

This worksheet was designed to give students an introduction to organic chemistry nomenclature with a more active experience than listening to a faculty member present all the rules for how to name alkanes and cycloalkanes. The pedagogical approach is one introduced to me by Dr. Melonie Teichert; we refer to it as ICC (Inventing through Contrasting Cases). The theoretical framework involves the premise that students will learn and retain more of the learning if they're not simply told the "answer" but if they attempt to generate an answer for themselves based upon a data set.

Students are often presented with the finished MO correlation diagrams of molecules like bis benzene chromium or ferrocene in classes and in organometallic chemistry text books. This activity helps them match the ligand group orbitals of the two benzene rings with the metal valence orbitals. Their understanding and appreciation of such diagrams is significantly enhanced when they find out how only some matches have the appropriate symmetry requirements.