Miessler and Tarr is an inorganic textbook which is is best suited to an upper-division one-semester inorganic course, though there is more material than can be covered in a single semester, so some choice of topics is necessary. It is very well suited for a course oriented around structure, bonding, and reaction chemistry of transition metal compounds, but is very limited in its treatment of solids, main-group, descriptive chemistry, and bioinorganic. Pchem would be helpful but is not necessary. In particular, the treatment of MO theory is very in-depth. The quality of end-of chapter p
Housecroft and Sharpe (Inorganic Chemistry, 3ed): This is a comprehensive inorganic textbook designed primarily for students at the Junior/Senior level. P-Chem would not be needed as a prerequisite for this text, but would be helpful. It includes both theoretical and descriptive material along with special topics, enough for a two semester course though it is easily adaptable to a one-semester "advanced inorganic" course by choosing only some topics. It is written in a clear and generally readable style and the full-color graphic contribute to student understanding.
This is a literature discussion assignment in which students read a paper, come up with their own answers to the provided questions (and submit them). This is followed by a general in-class discussion on the paper. This particular article deals with hydrosilyation of carbonyl compounds by a Re catalyst and describes the mechanism and kinetics in detail. I found it a good paper to help students connect their P-chem (and inorganic) kinetics with a "real" system. As part of the literature assignment, I also ask students to draw an MO diagram of a simple substrate (for review).
This is a list of Nobel Prizes that in my opinion were either in Inorganic Chemistry or in an area that has impacted Inorganic Chemistry. I pass this out to students on the first day of class when we are talking very generally about what inorganic chemistry is all about. This could be extended into a longer discussion at this point or at a later point on one or more of the prizes. For example, later in the semester I have them read the Nobel Prize address of Alfred Werner. This helps to inform their lab work and introduces coordination chemistry, which we have not yet discussed in lectu
The students prepare a short proposal outlining their desired target and why they want to make it. Chemicals are ordered, and during the last 3-4 weeks of the semester, the students carry out their synthesis. The writeup is as a paper submtited to the journal Inorganic Chemistry using the template from the journal web page.