University of Cambridge Teaching and Learning Packages

Submitted by Barbara Reisner / James Madison University on Fri, 01/25/2013 - 05:00
Description

These are a group of outstanding resources for materials science and solid state chemistry. They are all tutorials with Flash animation. I find these to be an excellent review for myself and an excellent primer for my students. Because there are so many useful tutorials on the site, I've highlighted the ones that I think are most appropriate for use in an undergraduate curriculum. These range from introductory to advanced material.

Crystallography & Diffraction

(mu-NO)2[CoCp]2 is not paramagnetic

Submitted by Joanne Stewart / Hope College on Fri, 10/26/2012 - 02:05
Description

In this paper by Andersen and Berg (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1988, 110 (14), pp 4849–4850) the authors present magnetic measurements that refute the calculated ground state of an organometallic cobalt nitrosyl dimer. Students will learn about two physical techniques for measuring magnetism and will learn how magnetic measurements can be used to indicate paramagnetism versus diamagnetism.

Metal-Ligand Multiple Bonds and Frustrated Lewis Pairs

Submitted by Matt Whited / Carleton College on Wed, 10/10/2012 - 14:40
Description

This is a literature-based activity that focuses on a review I recently published as part of a thematic series on C-H activation.

The review highlights similarities between the newly discovered frustrated Lewis pairs and polarized metal-ligand multiple bonds.  There are many ways to use the review, but the attached set of questions focuses on drawing analogies among seemingly diverse types of reactivity using frontier-molecular-orbital considerations.

Atomic Orbital Display

Submitted by Flick Coleman / Wellesley College on Thu, 10/04/2012 - 12:26
Description

This is a jmol display of the atomic orbitals from 1s to 4f that can be rotated in space. They are plotted relative to the x, y, and z-axes.

The Lewis Dot Structure(s) of Nitryl Fluoride

Submitted by Sheila Smith / University of Michigan- Dearborn on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 20:43
Description

This is the In Class Activity that I use to review the concepts of Lewis Dot Structures, LDS, (connectivity, resonance, formal charges, etc.) learned in General Chemistry and to introduce new ideas of resonance contributions to the character of the molecule.  The question itself is apparently very simple, but the discussion that it produces can be quite rich and brings in both new and old ideas of LDS, providing both a good review and a good segue into advanced ideas of Lewis Dot Structures.

keeping a lab notebook

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Thu, 09/13/2012 - 23:19
Description

I found this great website linked from somewhere a few days or a week ago and already forgot where. But I am teaching organic lab this semester and convinced one of the students to do a little research. As a reward, I am going to buy her, and the whole class, gelly roller pens for keeping their notebooks.

This is a GREAT site that has so much detail on keeping a lab notebook. There is a lot of great stuff in there.

Identifying Organometallic Reaction Classes in a Catalytic Cycle

Submitted by Nancy Williams / Scripps College, Pitzer College, Claremont McKenna College on Tue, 08/28/2012 - 19:01
Description

This contains three parts: A "Pre-Read" section for students to read before coming to class, an in-class worksheet to be worked in groups, and instructor keys for the worksheet.

The purpose of this exercise is to familiarize and give practice with identifying major classes of reaction (oxidative addition, etc.) in an organometallic catalytic cycle. After this exercise, students should be able to do the same for a new catalytic cycle provided by the instructor on a homework set or exam.

Alkyne Semihydrogenation with Niobium(II) Imido Complexes: Exploring An Unconventional Hydrogenation Mechanism

Submitted by Matt Whited / Carleton College on Thu, 08/09/2012 - 11:30
Description

This is a literature discussion based on an interesting Bergman/Arnold paper utilizing d2 niobium imido complexes for the semihydrogenation of arylalkynes to Z-alkenes.  The mechanism is quite unusual, and I found it to be an interesting paper to discuss after we had talked about the classical hydrogenation mechanisms (typically observed for late transition metals).  The students should come into the discussion understanding fundamental reaction mechanisms (including σ-bond metathesis), and it's helpful if they are somewhat familiar with mono- and dihydride mech

Analyzing a journal article for non-content issues of style and convention

Submitted by Sarah K. St. Angelo / Dickinson College on Mon, 07/30/2012 - 15:59
Description

This is an in-class activity--or an activity students do prior to class to in preparation for an in-class discussion--to help students identify stylistic components of published writing.  I provide the students with an appropriate journal article, typically a communication from Inorganic Chemistry, such as Inorg. Chem. 2008, 47, 2922-2924 (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/ic702373b) or Inorg. Chem.

Exploration of Nitrosyl Complexes

Submitted by Brad Kraft / St. John Fisher College on Mon, 07/30/2012 - 15:33
Description

This in-class activity and the related problem set allows students to discover the linear and bent bonding modes of NO to metals based on VSEPR theory through guided inquiry.  Two examples follow which illustrate how the electrons are counted in NO complexes depending on the coordination mode/formal charge of NO. Students must have had prior practice in counting electrons of complexes to complete the problems.   

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