This is a short presentation giving an overview of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), meant to be an introduction for those who are unfamiliar with the technique.
In this project students are asked to reproduce published calculations of molecular orbital energies of a series of derivatized fullerenes and correlate them with published reduction and oxidation potentials obtained from cyclic voltammetry. The particular subset of the derivatives to be studied are chosen by the student and this choice is part of the learning activity. The students then carry out additional calculations using other theoretical models to see whether they improve the correlation between computed and experimental properties.
Students in a sophomore-level inorganic chemistry course were asked to read the paper “High-Pressure Synthesis and Characterization of the Alkali Diazenide Li2N2” (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 1873-1875. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201108252) in preparation for a class discussion. For many students, this was a first exposure to reading the primary literature.
Maggie Geselbracht has a great fondness for compounds with too many nitrogen atoms next to each other. This is a collection of problem sets and class activites based on the structure, bonding, and spectroscopy of a number of such compounds, drawn from the recent literature.
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 is a literature-based activity that focuses on a review I recently published as part of a thematic series on C-H activation.
The review highlights similarities between the newly discovered frustrated Lewis pairs and polarized metal-ligand multiple bonds. There are many ways to use the review, but the attached set of questions focuses on drawing analogies among seemingly diverse types of reactivity using frontier-molecular-orbital considerations.
The synthesis of the nitrogen triiodide ammoniate shock-sensitive explosive is a simple laboratory exercise, but it does require a lengthy time for the material to dry before it is active. This activity uses that time to have students investigate some simple thermodynamics behind their explosive, as well as consult the literature on high energy density materials from the work of Karl O. Christe.
There is also a shorter version of the activity posted as an in-class activity that omits most of the literature investigation.
This screencast is a brief introduction to some of the features of VIPEr.
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This is an in class activity to introduce the topic of multinuclear NMR, which is not covered (beyond 13C) in our sophomore level organic course. It is designed to walk the students through the process of predicting NMR spectra, as they learned in sophomore organic chemistry, but for a different I=1/2 nucleus, in this case 19F, which is I=1/2 and 100% abundant.