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

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. 

This literature discussion focuses on a 2022 Nature Comm paper looking at the reasons behind the pyramidal structures of tri-coordinate f-element complexes. There is plenty to discuss in terms of bonding and coordination geometries in metal complexes, and the effects of pressure on coordination geometry.

This literature discussion focuses on a Inorg. Chem. article that describes a series of Pt complexes that exhibit competitive reductive elimination reactions to form either an sp2-sp3 bond or an sp3-sp3 bond. One of the complexes also contains a C-C agostic interaction with the metal. The questions are written to be addressed by students in a foundation-level inorganic course.