Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to incorporate some more materials chemistry-based labs into my intro inorganic chemistry course and have been finding the Teaching General Chemistry - A Materials Science Companion to be a very useful resource. I'm planning to have my students do Experiment 7 in the book (Periodic Properties and Light-Emitting Diodes). However, I'm finding it difficult to find some of the materials suggested in the book, as the vendor part numbers have changed since the book was published in 1993. I could use your help in one of the following ways:

I was just wondering what others are doing for General Chemistry (I or II) lab reports. I have tried shorter memo-like reports for experiments as well as traditional full reports. 

Does anyone have other ideas that they find help students improve writing and comprehension of the material/techniques?

C&E News used to print annual statistics on commodity chemical production in the US under an article titled 

I get a server not found message.

In response to Amanda Reig's request on Facebook, I'm starting a discussion forum where we can share periodic table files in a variety of formats.  I have included two Word versions in portrait and landscape mode as well as an Excel file.  These files can get manipulated to fit on a credit card.

Hello,

I teach an introductory inorganic course at the first year level.  One of the key skills I want them to master in those first weeks of lab is the idea of turning a chemical description into equations (plus at the same time learning basic lab technique like filtering and observing).  I have used both the copper cycle lab and an alum synthesis lab for this purpose in the past but I am getting a bit tired of those and looking for something new.

Hi everyone. I'm troubleshooting the [Co(en)₃]³⁺ prep from Girolami, Rachfuss and Angelici. The prep, briefly, is to take 6 g Co salt, 13 g en·2 HCl, 25 mL water, 8 g NaOH and then 20 mL of 3% H2O2. Then it says to dilute to 50 mL and heat to boiling. However, at the end of the addition, the volume is 70+ mL. My student yields were really low this spring (much lower than usual) so I am wondering if anyone else has worked on this.

Does anyone remember seeing a table in an inorganic text (I'm guessing circa 1980s vintage) that listed out all the various changes in OS, VEC, dⁿand CN for the various reactions in organometallic/inorganic chemistry? For example, for oxidative addition, OS, VEC and CN all change by +2, and dn goes down by 2. But this table was very complete and had radical reactions, insertions, ligand exchange reactions, and all sorts of other reactions listed as well.

Dear Colleagues (particularly those of you who are Organometallic Chemists and/or those of you who attended the workshop:  "Organometallica",