The Synthesis and Electronic Structure of [NiX4]2- Complexes and the Role of Crown Ethers in Inorganic Synthesis

Submitted by Wes Farrell / United States Naval Academy on Thu, 06/06/2019 - 15:05
Description

This literature discussion aims to have students in an advanced inorganic chemistry course interpret reaction schemes and electronic spectra, relate chemical formulae to molecular structure, and gain an understanding of how inorganic synthesis is planned and executed.  Students should gain an understanding of how counterions and crown ethers affect structure. Question 7 may be expanded to ask students to why pi-donor ability affects ligand field splitting, or as an introfuction to this topic.

An associated 1FLO based on this paper is linked in the related content.

 

Zinc-Zinc Bonds (Expanded and Updated)

Submitted by Wes Farrell / United States Naval Academy on Wed, 06/05/2019 - 11:42
Description

This paper in Science reports the synthesis of decamethyldizincocene, a stable compound of Zn(I) with a zinc-zinc bond. In the original LO, 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.

Helping Students with Visual Impairments See Colors

Submitted by Doug Balmer / Warwick High School on Fri, 05/31/2019 - 12:05
Description

I have had some students in class have a hard time identifying colors (flame tests, solution color, acid-base indicators, etc.) because of a visual impairment. There are many cell-phone apps that are helpful in aiding these students. "Pixel Picker" allows the students to load a picture from a device (cell phone, ipad). This is helpful because students are now dealing with a "frozen" image. Moving the cross-hair to different parts of the picture changes the R-G-B values. The "Color Blind Pal" app uses a more qualitative approach.

Guided Literature Discussion of “Mechanism of the Platinum(II)-Catalyzed Hydroamination of 4-Pentenylamines”

Submitted by M. Watzky / University of Northern Colorado on Wed, 01/16/2019 - 19:11
Description

This Guided Literature Discussion was assigned as a course project, and is the result of work originated by students Jana Forster and Kristofer Reiser.  It is based on the article “Mechanism of the Platinum(II)-Catalyzed Hydroamination of 4-Pentenylamines” by Christopher F. Bender, Timothy J. Brown, and Ross A. Widenhoefer in Organometallics 2016 35 (2), 113-125.

5-ish Slides about Enemark-Feltham Notation

Submitted by Kyle Grice / DePaul University on Thu, 11/08/2018 - 22:00
Description

This is a basic introduction to Enemark-Feltham that can be used in conjunction with any literature that has Iron nitrosyls in it. I made this as a follow up to the work that came ouf of the 2018 VIPEr workshop in UM-Dearborn.