This website provides a link to a simple downloadable program that introduces students to a Schlenk line through a series of short animations. It is designed for Windows (does not appear to work on Windows 8 or on Macs). While a bit rudimentary, it does a nice job of showing students the basic setup, discussing safety concerns with the liquid nitrogen trap, and outlining the general procedure for starting up and shutting down the Schlenk line.
All chemistry is learned best by "doing," and I believe this is especially true for determining molecular symmetry. This activity was designed to end a three-part lecture/activity on symmetry and point groups for my advanced inorganic class. I call this unit on symmetry a lecture/activity series because it was designed to be student-guided learning and requires the students to teach each other how to determine a molecular point group. I only gave one formal lecture on symmetry and point groups, which was followed by the symmetry scavenger hunt activity LO. Finally this assignment was do
I recently came across some web resources for teaching kinetics. They are searchable compilations of kinetics data, principally gas-phase. Two of the sites include "recommended" data for use in simulations.
I describe the four sites here and the URLs are here and below.
http://jpldataeval.jpl.nasa.gov/
This is a critical tabulation of the latest kinetic and photochemical data for use by modelers in computer simulations of atmospheric chemistry
The original description of the synthesis of [RuH(NO3)(CO)2(PPh3)2 appears in Inorg. Chem. (Critchlow, P. B.; Robinson, S. D. Inorg. Chem. 1978, 17, 1896). There are eight possible structures for this octahedral isomer (including two sets of enantiomers). Students are shown one of the structures and asked to draw the remaining seven. The authors analyze the spectroscopic data obtained for the compound in order to determine which isomer formed. Unfortunately, there was an error in the analysis.
This learning object focuses on the new video series, “Voices in Inorganic Chemistry,” established to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the American Chemical Society journal, Inorganic Chemistry. The are currently 12 videos celebrating pioneers in the field of inorganic chemistry. This activity consists of two components, namely the students watching one interview and writing an essay about their chosen inorganic chemist.
This in-class activity and the related problem set allows students to discover the linear and bent bonding modes of NO to metals based on VSEPR theory through guided inquiry. Two examples follow which illustrate how the electrons are counted in NO complexes depending on the coordination mode/formal charge of NO. Students must have had prior practice in counting electrons of complexes to complete the problems.
This lecture provides a short introduction to the other half of biological iron chemistry: enzymes that do not contain a porphyrin group that ligates the iron atom. There are several important applications for non-heme iron in cells, both mammalian and bacterial. Oxygen activating non-heme iron enzymes fall into a few basic categories and includes mononuclear iron monooxygenases and dioxygenases, and binuclear iron monooxygenases. The requirements to activate and utilize dioxygen will be given.
This in-class activity introduces students to copper-mediated cross coupling reactions. In the literature, many cross coupling reactions are often discussed using palladium as a catalyst, not copper. In my laboratory, we are synthesizing 7-azaindole-based ligands for the development of potential anti-tumor platinum(II) complexes. In addition, I use one of my own publications to demonstrate an application of this synthetic strategy. The students calculate the actual turnover number (TON) and turnover frequency (TOF) for the copper catalyst.
This is intended as a guided reading assignment for the JACS Communication, “Mechanism for the Activation of Carbon Monoxide via Oxorhenium Complexes” by Smeltz, Boyle, and Ison; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 13288-13291. This article will expose students to newly published research and novel reaction mechanisms. It will require students to apply their knowledge of electron counting and organometallic mechanisms.
A detailed in-class analysis of the paper “Mechanism for the Activation of Carbon Monoxide via Oxorhenium Complexes” by Smeltz, Boyle, and Ison; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 13288-13291. Students will apply their knowledge of organometallic chemistry concepts to the mechanistic scheme in the paper.