Submitted by Sibrina Collins / College of Arts and Sciences at Lawrence Technological University on Tue, 08/14/2012 - 22:06
Forums
Greetings Colleagues, Although I am on research leave for one semester at OSU, I still need to think about my classes for the Spring 2013 semester. Surprisingly, I was motivated to work on some ideas tonight. Previously, I have used the textbook "Descriptive Inorganic, Coordination, and Solid-State Chemistry," by Rodgers. I love that book, but I found myself supplementing lots of other important topics (symmetry, point groups, MO theory). So now I plan to use Miessler and Tarr. I am thinking about content and the order I want to discuss them during the semester. There is no law that says I have to follow the order of the book! What do you think of the following sequence of topics? My goal is to introduce coordination chemistry earlier in the semester. Also, I want to discuss bioinorganic and environmental chem. This is not the final list: Ch. 1 Intro to inorg Ch. 2 Atomic Structure Ch. 3 Simple Bonding Theory Ch. 9 Coordination Chemistry (selected sections from Ch. 10, 11, and 12 could be here as well) Ch. 4 Symmetry Ch. 5 MO Theory Ch. 6 Acid Base Chemistry Ch. 8 Main Group Chemistry Ch. 16 Bioinorganic and Environmental Chemistry Ch. 13 Intro to Organometallic Chemistry
Joanne Stewart / Hope College

It seems like that's a REALLY big move from Rodgers. One of the reasons I use M&T is because I put a pretty strong emphasis on symmetry and MO theory in my class. I think M&T do a good job with that, and they use it well in the chapters on coord chem that follow. I'm not sure their chapters on coord chem are all that great without the MO parts. Rodgers is probably much better in that regard.

In other words, when I read what you've written, I'd be tempted to go with a book that emphasizes coordination chem more, without the heavy reliance on MO theory that M&T has.

Wed, 08/29/2012 - 09:10 Permalink
Sibrina Collins / College of Arts and Sciences at Lawrence Technological University

Joanne,

Thanks for your comments. They are helpful. When I used Roger's book I simply supplemented the chapter on symmetry (M&T) and MO theory (M&T). I wonder if there is another book I should consider?

Sibrina

Sat, 09/08/2012 - 11:42 Permalink
Kari Young / Centre College

I really like Inorganic Chemistry by Huheey, Keiter, and Keiter for discussion of symmetry and bonding.  I appreciate that the examples are a little old and that the book is not a "pretty" as M&T, but it might be something to consider if you're already drawing from more than one text.

Wed, 09/12/2012 - 12:04 Permalink