VIPEr Fellows 2019 Workshop Favorites
During our first fellows workshop, the first cohort of VIPEr fellows pulled together learning objects that they've used and liked or want to try the next time they teach their inorganic courses.
Venn Diagram activity- What is inorganic Chemistry?
Description
This Learning Object came to being sort of (In-)organically on the first day of my sophomore level intro to inorganic course. As I always do, I started the course with the IC Top 10 First Day Activity. (https://www.ionicviper.org/classactivity/ic-top-10-first-day-activity). One of the pieces of that In class activity asks students- novices at Inorganic Chemistry- to sort the articles from the Most Read Articles from Inorganic Chemistry into bins of the various subdisciplines of Inorganic Chemistry.
Getting to Know the MetalPDB
Description
When teaching my advanced bioinorganic chemistry course, I extensively incorporate structures from Protein Data Bank in both my assignments and classroom discussions and mini-lectures.
Modeling of the Flavodiiron Nitric Oxide Reductase Active Site Literature Discussion- Bioinorganic focus
Description
This is a literature discussion based on a 2018 Inorganic Chemistry paper from the Lehnert group titled “Mechanism of N–N Bond Formation by Transition Metal–Nitrosyl Complexes: Modeling Flavodiiron Nitric Oxide Reductases“(DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b02333).
Interpreting Reaction Profile Energy Diagrams: Experiment vs. Computation
Description
The associated paper by Lehnert et al. uses DFT to investigate the reaction mechanism whereby a flavodiiron nitric oxide reductase mimic reduces two NO molecules to N2O. While being a rather long and technical paper, it does include several figures that highlight the reaction profile of the 4-step reaction. This LO is designed to help students learn how to recognize and interpret such diagrams, based on free energy in this case. Furthermore, using a simple form of the Arrhenius equation (eq.
Bonding and MO Theory in Flavodiiron Nitrosyl Model Complexes - Foundation Level
Description
This acitivty is a foundation level discussion of the Nicolai Lehnert paper, "Mechanism of N-N Bond Formation by Transition Metal-Nitrosyl Complexes: Modeling Flavodiiron Nitric Oxide Reductases". Its focus lies in discussing MO theory as it relates to Lewis structures, as well as an analysis of the strucutre of a literature paper.
Using IR Frequencies to Compare Bond Strengths via Harmonic Oscillator Model
Description
Inorganic chemists often use IR spectroscopy to evaluate bond order of ligands, and as a means of determining the electronic properties of metal fragments.
Characterization and Investigation of a Binuclear Manganese(III)-Peroxo Metastable Intermediate
Description
In this literature assignment, students are asked to read an article from the primary literature on a binuclear manganese-peroxo complex that is similar to species proposed to be involved in photosynthetic water splitting and DNA biosynthesis. The assignment contains 25 questions that are intended to guide students through the article and help them extract important information about the work. The completed questions are then used as the basis for an in-class discussion of model complexes, which leads to a more advanced discussion on the topic.
MetalPDB website
Description
When teaching my advanced bioinorganic chemistry course, I extensively incorporate structures from Protein Data Bank in both my assignments and classroom discussions and mini-lectures. I also have students access structures both in and out of class as they complete assignments.
Investigating the toxicities of metals and identifying cadmium centers in metallothioneins
Description
This activity was designed as an in-class group activity, in which students begin by using basic principles to predict relative toxicities and roles of metals in biological systems. Students then learn about the structures of metallothioneins using information from the protein data bank (PDB) and 113Cd NMR data. By the end of the activity, students will have analyzed data to identify and determine bonding models and coordination sites for multiple cadmium centers in metallothioneins. It is based on recent literature, but does not require students to have read the papers before class.