National ACS Award Winners 2022 LO Collection

Submitted by Shirley Lin / United States Naval Academy on Sat, 03/12/2022 - 07:01

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. 

Atomic Orbital Representations and the Orbitron

Submitted by Andrea Van Duzor / Chicago State University on Fri, 06/09/2023 - 16:37
Description

This POGIL based activity is intended to review general chemistry concepts of atomic structure and to further those concepts with additional attention to d orbitals and radial distribution graphs.  The primary model in the activity is The Orbitron website (https://winter.group.shef.ac.uk/orbitron/) with students examining the isosurface and radial distributions for a variety of orbitals.

SLiThEr #48: Teaching Organometallic Chemistry to Undergraduates

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Fri, 05/05/2023 - 07:49
Description

The second in a series on teaching advanced topics to undergraduates, the SLiThEr focuses on organoMetallic chemistry. While the primary framework for the discussion is my senior level course, there is plenty of great content from the live participants.

Organometallic Precursor in [FeFe] Hydrogenase H-Cluster Bioassembly (Britt)

Submitted by Amanda Reig / Ursinus College on Wed, 03/22/2023 - 15:11
Description

In Fall 2022, R. David Britt was awarded the ACS Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic Chemistry for pioneering pulse electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy of the photosystem II oxygen-evolving complex, plus the advanced EPR spectroscopic characterization of numerous and varied key metalloenzymes and catalysts. 

Growth of Colloidal Crystals (Aizenberg)

Submitted by Anne Bentley / Lewis & Clark College on Fri, 03/03/2023 - 18:21
Description

Joanna Aizenberg of Harvard University was awarded the 2023 ACS Award in Colloid Chemistry for her outstanding contributions to fundamental and applied colloid chemistry in developing large-scale, highly ordered porous colloidal materials with unique photonic, catalytic, and sensing properties. This literature discussion will highlight her recent work to understand how colloidal crystals of polystyrene spheres grow when the solvent evaporates.

Term symbols visualized

Submitted by David Eichhorn / Wichita State University on Sun, 09/25/2022 - 18:38
Description

My advanced inorganic students often have trouble conceptualizing microstates and term symbols. This exercise is intended to provide a hands-on assembly of microstate models and their combination to form term symbols.

Nickel-catalyzed Hydrodefluorination

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Wed, 08/24/2022 - 12:29
Description

This paper describes the use of a  catalytic nickel system for the hydrodefluorination of aryl amides. While organofluorine compounds are extremely useful because of their unique properties, there are growing concerns about the impact of these compounds on the environment. Carbon-fluorine bonds are extremely strong, and so getting them to react is a significant challenge for chemists.

Molecular Magnets with Lanthanide Metal-Metal Bonding

Submitted by A. M. Christianson / Bellarmine University on Wed, 08/24/2022 - 11:36
Description

This literature discussion is based on a 2022 Science paper describing a series of dilanthanide complexes with exceptional magnetic properties due to the presence of metal-metal bonding. These molecules are the first reported species to feature direct bonding between two lanthanides! The paper contains ample material for discussion of molecular symmetry and bonding, oxidation states and electron configurations, and magnetism. The handout includes a description, glossary, discussion questions, and pre-class worksheet.

Hydrogenative Depolymerization of Nylons

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Tue, 08/23/2022 - 13:46
Description

This paper describes work from the Milstein group in which ruthenium catalysts with pincer ligands are used to depolymerize nylons by breaking the C-N bond and hydrogenating the resulting products to amines and alcohols. Waste plastic is a serious environmental concern that needs a solution. Organometallic chemists put significant effort into finding ways to convert monomers into polymers, and now we must figure out ways to do the reverse.

Organometallic Chemistry

Submitted by Laina Geary / University of Nevada, Reno on Tue, 06/28/2022 - 17:51
Description

The goal of this course is to provide an in-depth introduction to the broad subject of organometallic chemistry. Selected topics include: main group organometallics, oxidation states, ligands, structure and bonding, mechanism and mechanistic analysis, cross coupling, hydrogenation, hydroformylation, olefin polymerization, olefin metathesis, and other applications in homogeneous catalysis and organic synthesis.