This literature discussion was created during the 2023 IONiC VIPEr workshop at Morgan State University. It highlights the work of Prof. Robert J. Gilliard Jr.
Guided literature reading of Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 13065-13072: Stabilization of the Elusive 9-Carbene-9-Borafluorene Monoanion.
There are three components of the assignment:
This literature discussion on the Hot Paper communication in Chemistry, A European Journal; highlights the first examples of borepinium and borfluorenium cations whose optical properties can be tuned and also the very first reported example of thermochromism in these cationic species. R. J. Gilliard, Chem. Eur. J. 2019, 25, 12512. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201903348
This is a list of all of the learning objects developed in association with the 2023 content building workshop. Prof. Robert Gilliard was the featured speaker for this workshop, so most of the LOs will focus on his work.
Rigorous treatment of the chemistry of inorganic compounds, including structure, properties, and reactions, and their interpretation in terms of quantum chemistry, and solid state chemistry; analysis with modern instrumentation.
This is a hands-on introduction to molecular symmetry and point groups. Students are not expected to have any exposure to molecular symmetry before this lab. Students work in pairs to identify symmetry elements in molecules and assign molecules to appropriate point groups.
The course covers the principles and methods at an advanced level in modern chemical analysis. Topic includes chemical structure determination, separation of mixtures, chemical methods, infrared spectroscopy (IR), mass spectrometer (MS), nuclear magnetic spectroscopy, and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV/vis).
The "Lit Masters" concept is inspired by and adapted from one of my colleagues, Jenn Manak, in our education department. Students who are novices to reading the literature often are overwhelmed when assigned a paper to read and may struggle in group discussions. The strategy is to assign students to a semester-long group with designated roles for each paper that require them to produce a low-stakes artifact prior to class. During class time groups discuss the paper and it is followed with a debrief.
In this activity, students will collectively build molecular orbitals for homonuclear diatomic molecules using balloons as models for atomic orbitals. This activity gets students up and moving and involved in the building of an MO diagram and allows for 3-D visualization of the core concepts of building molecular orbitals from atomic orbitals.