In this activity, students apply knowledge of the trans effect to the synthesis of planar Pt(II) complexes that contain cis-amine/ammine motifs.  These complexes are of interest as both potential novel chemotherapeutic Pt(II) complexes and as intermediates for promising chemotherapeutic drugs such as satraplatin.  The questions in this LO are based on recent research described in the paper “Improvements in the synthesis and understanding of the iodo-bridged intermediate en route to the Pt(IV) prodrug satraplatin,” by Timothy C. Johnstone and Stephen C.

In this activity, the provided d orbital splitting patterns need to be matched with ligand geometries. Students are provided with the d orbital splitting diagrams for 6 ligand geometries (octahedral, trigonal bipyramidal, square pyramidal, tetrahedral, square planar, and linear). A web browser is used to view an animation (developed by Flick Coleman) which allows for the visualization of the relationship between the positions of the metal d orbitals and the ligands. Given this information, students should then be able to qualitatively rank the orbitals from highest to lowest energy.

Over the past several years, I've been doing this in-class exercise shortly after discussing mechanisms of ligand exchange. The exercise expands on the lecture material by having the students think about metal ions, rather than ligands, exchanging from a coordination complex. The students are encouraged to work in groups of 3-5 and actively discuss the material amongst themselves before we go over it as a class. I do not provide the students with the article ahead of time, so that they may come up with their own conclusions, as opposed to simply repeating those of the authors.

This is a kinesthetic activity in which students must utilize knowledge of the σ-donating, π-donating and π-accepting ability of ligands in order to rank the ligands in the spectrochemical series.  Students are each assigned a ligand on a card.  Suggested ligands are I^-, Br^-, Cl^-, F^-, ONO^-, NO₂^- OH^-, H₂O, pyridine, NH₃, ethylenediamine, bipyridine, phenanthroline, PPh₃, CN^- and CO.  Each student must evaluate the π-accepting, π-donating and σ-donating ability o

In this activity, students will compare and contrast two closely related structures, [Pd(dcpf)PR₃]²⁺ (dcpf = 1,1'-bis(dicyclohexylphosphino)ferrocene; R = Me or Ph). They will be required to obtain the cif files from the supporting information of a paper. They will then make a variety of measurments in the two stuctures. These measurements can be made using a variety of different freely available programs. Instructions are provided for Mercury 3.3 and Olex2. Finally, students will be required to provide a rationale for the differences in the two structures.