National ACS Award Winners 2022 LO Collection

This collection of learning objects was created to celebrate the National ACS Award Winners 2022 who are members of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry. The list of award winners is shown below. 

Shirley Lin / United States Naval Academy Sat, 03/12/2022 - 07:01
SLiThErs - Supporting Learning with Interactive Teaching: a Hosted, Engaging Roundtable

A collection of all of the IONiC VIPEr SLiThErs (Supporting Learning with Interactive Teaching: a Hosted, Engaging Roundtable). These events are short presentations on a topic followed by a period of discussion between the presenter and live participants. Each of these events is recorded and posted to the IONiC VIPEr YouTube Channel.

Chip Nataro / Lafayette College Thu, 12/17/2020 - 14:18
A Geometric Exploration of Metallic and Ionic Solid State Structure
Description

Two worksheets are given that walk students though visualizing and understanding solid state structure. The first worksheet focuses on metallic structure by introducing primitive, body-centered, and face-centered packing types in a cubic unit cell. Then, close packing structures are described followed by a discussion of holes in close packed or primitive packed lattices. The second worksheet introduces ionic solid structure types for the common binary salt lattices as well as perovskite and spinel structure types.

Jacob Lutter / University of Southern Indiana Wed, 01/21/2026 - 17:12

Synthesis and Group Theory Analysis of MoO2(acac)2

Submitted by Amanda Reig / Ursinus College on Fri, 11/14/2025 - 12:27
Description

This laboratory experiment is a quick and straightforward synthesis of a MoO2(acac)2 complex. The ligand set allows for two possible geometric arrangements: cis and trans. Using IR spectroscopy along with group theory analysis of the Mo-O stretching modes, students can determine which isomer they formed in their synthesis. NMR spectroscopy is also employed, and confirms the geometric arrangement due to the inequivalence of the acac methyl groups.

1FLO: Addition of H2 to four-coordinate iridium

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Wed, 10/22/2025 - 13:41
Description

This paper (J. Organomet. Chem. 2022, 965-966, 122317) describes the synthesis and reactivity of four-coordinate iridium compound with a tridentate ligand. This ligand is referred to in the paper as a pincer ligand which are a general class of tridentate ligands that coordinate in a mer- arrangement.

2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry - MOFs

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Wed, 10/08/2025 - 08:43

In celebration of the 2025 Nobel prize in Chemistry awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yagi, this collection features various LOs about MOFs.

Metallocene cations and anions

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Tue, 09/23/2025 - 11:39
Description

This is a really interesting paper in J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2025, 147, 34641-34646) involving a complex salt in which both the cation and anion are metallocenes. While a majority of the paper is focused on the characterization of two new compounds, it presents some excellent opportunities to practice counting electrons, one of which was a challenge to this author.

Rhenium isocyanide complexes from the Figueroa group

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Tue, 08/26/2025 - 13:34
Description

This literature discussion is in honor of Dr. Josh Figueroa, recipient of the 2026 F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry. Josh has done some tremendous work with isocyanide ligands and this paper is but a brief glimpse into this field. The complexes of interest contain carbonyl ligands and isocyanide ligands, so there are plenty of opportunities for students to use group theory to predict the number of IR-active vibrations for these ligands.

SLiThEr #64: Developing ACS Guidelines for Undergraduate Chemistry Programs

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Mon, 07/28/2025 - 07:41
Description

A discussion about the 2023 ACS Guidelines for Undergraduate Chemistry Programs with Michelle Brooks (Assistant Director of the Office of Higher Education at ACS), Cora MacBeth (Emory University) and Barb Reisner (James Madison University). Additional discussion is available to registered faculty users.

SLiThEr #63: Catching up with Reilly and Sydney

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Mon, 07/28/2025 - 07:25
Description

This goes back to SLiThEr #14 when we interviewed two senior undergraduates in the midst of the COVID pandemic. At the time of this SLiThEr, both are in graduate school and getting close to their PhD.

Reilly Gwinn (Virginia Tech) and Sydney Towell (UNC - Chapel Hill) update us on their career paths.

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