Bioinorganic in Miessler, Tarr and Fisher

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Fri, 07/18/2014 - 11:24

It was pointed out at our recent bioinorganic workshop at Northwestern that the new version of MT&F has no chapter on bioinorganic. 

If you don't have the bioinorganic chapter from previous editions, you can request chapter 16 from the following online form (you need ot contact your Pearson rep).  Maybe if a lot of us from the VIPEr community request the chapter, they will re-include the chapter in the next edition.

 

http://www.pearsonhighered.com/miessler5einfo/

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Hip Hop and Science Resources

Submitted by Sibrina Collins / College of Arts and Sciences at Lawrence Technological University on Wed, 07/16/2014 - 22:13

Dear VIPEr Colleagues,

I hope all is well. As you are aware, one of my passions focuses on chemical education, specifically using concepts of Hip Hop to attract young people to the chemical sciences. There is a faculty member (Chris Emdin, Columbia) that is really pioneering this kind of work. I wanted to share a useful link to you about this type of work to engage young people.

http://cenblog.org/newscripts/2013/04/gza-liquid-swords-rap-science-sch…

Sibrina

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tiny advanced classes

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Thu, 05/29/2014 - 20:06

Hello, VIPErs,

This fall I am scheduled to teach my organometallics course, a junior/senior level textbook/primary lit course. However, it turns out there will only be two students enrolled. My normal method involves small group presentations and discussions of the primary literature, but that isn't going to work. I am certainly not going to lecture to two students. How have you dealt with this situation? I don't want to cancel the class. I have attempted to do private readings on this topic in the past when I couldn't offer the course, and that didn't work very well.

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Spartan calculation program in inorganic courses

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Wed, 05/21/2014 - 16:14

I am thinking about incorporating some calculation exercises into my inorganic course in the fall (possibly something like the Using Computational Chemistry to discuss backbonding in CO).   We currently have a license for Spartan (which can certainly do a number of different types of levels of calculations, including DFT).   Has anyone else used Spartan for such things?  If so, what basis sets did you use for your calculations?       

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The dreaded textbook discussion....

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Thu, 04/24/2014 - 14:42

It is the time of year when the bookstore is hounding me for my past-due textbook selection for the fall!   It has been several years since I've taught our inorganic course at the junior/senior level with pre- and post-P-Chem students.  The last few times I've used various editions of Housecroft and Sharpe, and I'm considering that again.   I'd also be interested in what peope think of the new Miessler, Tarr, and Fischer.

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Testing Gen Chem students on "basics" of Coordination chemistry?

Submitted by Chris Mullins / University of Kentucky on Mon, 04/14/2014 - 16:45

I have a conundrum, running out of class dates to do the following...

Cover a little more on the basics of coordination chemistry (1 class day)

Give an exam (while my 50 minute class period will get chopped up due to an awards day cermony preceding it)

Give the ACS 2 semester exam

 

Oh, and my MWF loses both this Friday and next Monday to Easter holiday...

Any suggestions on a good take-home assessment object that can sub in for an exam?

 

Thanks!

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Inquiry-based approach to crystal field / ligand field theory: any ideas or resources?

Submitted by Jeremiah / Plymouth State University on Wed, 04/09/2014 - 00:20

I am interested in teaching crystal field theory and/or ligand field theory in a sort of inquiry-based, student-led manner in an upcoming class.  Just wondering if anybody has any thoughts or links to resources that could be handy in putting this together. 

(Full disclosure:  in re-working my syllabus a bit for this semester, I thought it would be a "good idea" to dedicate a lab period to learning CFT and LFT--now that the lab is approaching, I'm scrambling to figure out a useful way to fill 3 hours!) 

All thoughts are much appreciated.  Thanks!

--Jeremiah

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Looking for a synthesis to teach Schlenk and glovebox techniques

Submitted by Joseph Keane / Muhlenberg College on Tue, 03/11/2014 - 13:51
Folks,
 
For a lab unit on Schlenk line and glovebox techniques, I have been using manipulations of reduced CpZnCl2 in solution, which gives nice color changes upon exposure to oxygen, followed by synthesis of diacetochromium(II) hydrate as described in the classic text by Jolly (Jolly, William L. The Synthesis and Characterization of Inorganic Compounds, Waveland Press, 1991, pp 442-444). I am looking for a replacement for the chromium complex synthesis.
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