The Japan syndrome
Description
This is an in-class discussion of an article that appeared in The Economist. It can be used to review several topics covered in the first year chemistry class.
The Synthesis and Characterization of a trans-Dioxorhenium(V) Complex
Description
This experiment involves the preparation of a key starting reactant in high purity and yield for an ongoing research project, specifically for the development of potential photodynamic therapy (PDT) agents. The students synthesize [ReO2(py)4]Cl.2H2O using standard inorganic synthesis techniques. The students visualize the vibrations and electronic properties (e.g. molecular orbitals) of the compound using output files generated from density functional theory (DFT).
Inorganic Spectroscopy Introduced Using an Interactive PhET Simulation (Part 2)
Description
This is the second part of a two-day class discussion on molecular and inorganic spectroscopy. In this activity, upper level students learn about spectroscopic tecniques used in inorganic chemistry and then devise an experiment to follow the progress of a hypothetical reaction. The activity also prepares students for the inorganic laboratory "Linkage isomerism of nitrogen dioxide" in which infrared spectroscopy is used to monitor changes to the N-O vibrational stretch upon coordination to a metal.
Coordination Diversity and Biological Activity of a Monodentate Au(III) Compound
Description
This learning object focuses on a recent publication (Acta Crystallographia 2014, C70, 260 -266) by the Collins research group in the Department of Chemistry at The College of Wooster. Specifically, the paper evaluates the coordination diversity of a N-donor ligand, 2-phenyl-1,10-phenanthroline(pnp) with three new pnp-metal complexes containing Au(III), Cu(II), and Pd(II) metal centers.
5 (or 6) Slides about Biophysical Techniques
Description
This Five Slides About was prepared specifically for the 2014 IONiC/VIPEr workshop Bioinorganic Applications of Coordination Chemistry held at Northwestern University July 13-18, 2014.
Dissecting Catalysts for Artificial Photosynthesis
Description
Anne asked the students in her junior/senior inorganic course to develop their own literature discussion learning objects and lead the rest of the class in a discussion of their article. Each student chose one article from a list of suggestions provided. Student Hayley Johnston chose this article describing a Mn-containing catalyst for carbon dioxide reduction (Jonathan M. Smieja, Matthew D. Sampson, Kyle A. Grice, Eric E. Benson, Jesse D. Froehlich, and Clifford P.
Hard Soft Acid Base Theory - Coordination Trends in Alkali Metal Crown Ether Uranyl Halide Complexes: The Series [A(Crown)]2[UO2X4] Where A = Li, Na, K, and X = Cl, Br
Description
In this literature discussion, students are asked to read an article describing a series of uranyl halide compounds that contain an alkali counterion that interacts with one or more of the uranium's ligand atoms. This paper stands out as a great example of the binding preferences of acids and bases, and can be explained very well using simple HSAB concepts.
First use of the term "bioinorganic"
Description
Thanks to information first provided to me by Prof. Brian M. Hoffman, Northwestern University, I believe that the first documented use of the term "bioinorganic chemistry" occurred at a meeting held at Virginia Tech (VPI&SU) in June, 1970. This meeting was jointly organized with Canadian researchers and was thus an international meeting.
This meeting resulted in an Advances in Chemistry Series book, which has the following URL:
Water Oxidation Catalyzed by NHC Complexes of Iridium
Description
A literature discussion based on an interesting paper from Bernhard and Albrecht about a catalytic water oxidation promoted by irdium complexes featuring abnormal/mesoionic NHC ligands.
I used this in an upper-level Organometallics course after discussing NHC ligands in class.
Student choice literature-based take home exam question
Description
During my junior/senior level inorganic course, we did several guided literature discussions over the course of the semester where the students read papers and answered a series of questions based on them (some from this site!). As part of my take home final exam, I gave the students an open choice literature analysis question where they had the chance to integrate topics from the semester into their interpretation of a recent paper of their own choice from Inorganic Chemistry, this time with limited guidance.