National ACS Award Winners 2021 LO Collection
This collection of learning objects was created to celebrate the National ACS Award Winners 2021 who are members of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry. The list of award winners is shown below.
Proton-Assisted Reduction of CO2 by Cobalt Aminopyridine Macrocycles (Marinescu)
Description
Various topics ranging from coordination chemistry, electrochemistry, solid state chemistry and point group and symmetry are discussed from the JACS article published by Smaranda C. Marinescu and her co-workers. The article describes the conversion of CO2 to CO by using cobalt aminopyridine macrocycle catalysts.
Development of Expanded Porphyrins (Sessler)
Description
The LO focuses upon classic articles describing the synthesis and characterization of the first "texaphyrin" compounds.
This LO is part of a special VIPEr collection honoring the 2021 ACS National Award recipients in the field of inorganic chemistry. Jonathan L. Sessler was the recipient of the Ronald Breslow Award for Achievement in Biomimetic Chemistry for the discovery of expanded porphyrins, molecular recognition via base-pairing, pyrrole-based anion binding, and demonstrating the power of this biomimetic chemistry in drug discovery.
The Organometallic Chemistry Behind the Polymer of Squares (Chirik)
Description
The discussion covers a 2021 publication by the Chirik group (Nature Chemistry, 2021, DOI: 10.1038/s41557-020-00614-w) which details the discovery of a new way to polymerize butadiene through iron-catalyzed [2+2] cycloadd
5 slides about nomenclature
Description
I have never enjoyed teaching nomenclature, but it is certainly important for students to know what is meant when they see a name out there in the wild. I use Gary's excellent in-class activity (linked below) and then follow up with these slides to cement the knowledge in the last 10-20 minutes of class. The first content slide is a list of nomenclature rules from IUPAC but I normally fill in a list of class-generated rules on the title slide before moving to the truth... our in-class rules are often quite close to the published rules.
Resolution of Werner complexes -- the COVID edition
Description
This is a classic experiment that has been revised and updated numerous times over the years. The experiment can be found in Girolami, Rauchfuss and Angelici, 3rd edition, but that edition removed some purification steps that were present in the earlier edition which has plagued generations of my students with poor resolution of the enantiomers. Marion Cass published a J. Chem. Educ. article in 2015 that included a pH determination and added back in the recrystallization step. This allowed my students to achieve higher yields and greater resolution in Spring 2020.
metal acac complexes the COVID 19 version
Description
For our virtual offering of inorganic chemistry laboratory at Harvey Mudd College in Spring 2021, I made some videos and collected some high quality data (IR, 1H NMR, MS, UV-Vis, mp, and X-ray diffraction) that I will make available for my students. The videos show the synthesis of Co and Mn acacs, the difference between as-prepared and recrystallized compounds, making solutions for UV-Vis and Evans method NMR, and making Evans method capillary tubes. The procedures for the synthesis of these compounds is found in Woolins (either the first or second editions).
Green Chemistry and Redox Flow Batteries
Description
This paper in Chemical Science written by Ellen Matson and co-workers describes a structure function approach to improving the properties of non-aqueous redox flow batteries based upon polyoxovanadate-alkoxides (POV-alkoxides). Given the importance of battery technology on society and sustainable chemistry, this article allows students to engage with a paper that could have broad implications in society.
SLiThEr #5: Favorite Learning Objects (LO's)
Description
This is the fifth SLiThEr (Supporting Learning with Interactive Teaching: a Hosted, Engaging Roundtable), hosted by Drs. Kari Stone and Anthony Fernandez, in which they present and discuss some of their favorite Learning Objects from VIPEr and how they use them.
SLiThEr #4: Flipping Undergraduate Inorganic Chemistry: Effect on Diversity and Inclusivity
Description
This is the 4th in the series of SLiThErs (Supporting Learning with Interactive Teaching: a Hosted, Engaging Roundtable). This was presented by Dr. Caroline Saouma on how flipping her inorganic chemistry course helped diversity and inclusivity. This ties in very well with SLiThEr #3, which was on flipped classrooms as well (https://www.ionicviper.org/web-resources-and-apps/slither-3-flipping-yo…).