Iridium dihydroxybipyridine complexes for hydrodeoxygenation
Description

I regularly give an oral exam instead of a written exam in my junior and senior level organometallics seminar course. The course focuses on the primary literature, discussion of advanced topics, and asking questions. A written exam would not evaluate the students' abilities on the important skill development they learned in the class. Besides, I am better able to gauge when a student has no idea about a certain topic, or just needs a little nudge in order for them to demonstrate that they actually understand 95% of it.

Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College Thu, 01/04/2024 - 17:50

Synthesis of Ti complexes supported by an ortho-terphenoxide

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Thu, 01/04/2024 - 16:21
Description

The Tonks group has helped to revitalize interest in early metal, especially titanium, organometallic chemistry in recent years. Often his group uses Ti complexes for multi-component coupling, increasingly with masked low-valent Ti(II) as an important intermediate. This paper is more fundamental, exploring a ligand based on ortho-terphenoxide since the meta- and para- derivatives were already known. Along the way, they report some interesting NMR and structural information, and finish with some hydroamination catalysis. 

Geometric Control of C-C RE from a Pt(IV) Pincer Complex
Description

When I saw this paper come out, I thought it would make a great teaching paper. It has synthesis, characterization, reaction mechanisms, computational chemistry and it directly impacts catalysis by a thorough examination of the reductive elimination reaction. What are the factors governing the rate of C-C RE? Can geometry (sterics) control reactivity or is it only based on the hybridization (sp2/sp3) of the carbon atom in question (electronics)?

Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College Thu, 01/04/2024 - 15:10

An Exploration of Molecular Dihydrogen Complexes

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Mon, 11/27/2023 - 14:41
Description

I wanted my organometallic class to explore the bonding and spectroscopy of the Kubas dihydrogen complex without having to spend the time doing the entire literature discussion (which is really great and I have done it many times in the past) because I wanted to do it in only about 20-30 minutes in a 75 minute class period. Most of the questions come from the Kubas literature discussion, which I shortened. The IR and reduced mass calculations come from an LO I wrote about arene activation by Jones and Feher.

SLiThEr #55: "Chemical information meets AI -The continued need for information literacy training"

Submitted by Kyle Grice / DePaul University on Wed, 10/25/2023 - 17:02
Description

This is the 55th SLiTher, entitled "Chemical information meets AI -The continued need for information literacy training", presented byJudith Currano  This presentation was an related to Judith's recent fall ACS meeting presentation which explores how research search engines perform searches and how to train students to better utilize these resources.

 

 

The mechanism of Oxidative addition of Pd(0) to Si-H bonds

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Tue, 10/10/2023 - 18:25
Description

I saw Amanda Cook present this work (and another paper, Organometallics, 2022, 41, 997) at the Organometallics Gordon Conference in summer 2023 and while I was furiously taking notes, I knew that I wanted to teach this paper. The paper elucidates the mechanism of oxidative addition of tertiary silanes to palladium zero phosphine complexes. 

Energetics and mechanisms of reductive elimination from Pt(IV) (short version)

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Tue, 10/10/2023 - 17:39
Description

I am moving away from teaching the Goldberg paper (still one of my favorites) and instead wanted to teach just the highlights as part of my seminar class in organometallic chemistry this fall. I created this shorter version of the activity to use in class. I did NOT have them read the paper in advance, hence the summaries in the LO itself. 

 

Electron Transfer through a Photosynthetic Reaction Center

Submitted by Levi Ekanger / The College of New Jersey on Thu, 09/07/2023 - 16:23
Description

This is a computer-based activity intended for a bioinorganic chemistry course composed of upper-level undergraduate students. It is helpful for students to be familiar with concepts of electron transfer, including a surface-level introduction to Marcus theory and the inverted region, and photosynthetic charge separation before beginning this activity. However, this activity can easily be adapted to students with other levels of preparation in a bioinorganic course.

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