I usually do not take time in my inorganic course to teach students about how to name coordination complexes. And yet, I would like them to know nomenclature to the extent that they can correctly name various complexes in their lab reports or understand the naming conventions used in the literature. Often, there is a section in their textbook that I can refer them to. However, this year, I am using Housecroft and Sharpe, and I could not find the appropriate sections in the text. So, I found some online resources to refer my students to.

A series of videos has been produced to show students the best way to assemble glass jointware.  A variety of different examples are provided, with variations that demonstrate some of the more complicated assemblies that are often used in inorganic synthesis (e.g., how to protect the system with a drying tube or to purge an apparatus with an inert gas).  The intent of the videos is to provide visual learners with a better idea of what they must do in the laboratory, and thereby speed up the process of assembling glass jointware.

Videos include:

The Interdisciplinary Education Group at the University of Wisconsin Madison Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) has a fabulous website with a wide variety of great resources for teaching about materials and the nanoworld at all levels.  A favorite "corner" of this website that I refer to a lot in my own teaching is the library of so-called Resource Slides on a variety of topics.  These Resource Slides are divided up into 36 topical Slide Shows and include wonderful graphics to use in class presentations.   Slide Shows include:

This is a resource that focuses on the elements from a geological perspective. What I like about the website is that it provides examples of the uses and sources of elements.

The resources contained within this web site are designed to help students learn concepts of molecular symmetry and to help faculty teach concepts of molecular symmetry.

This spreadsheet allows students to build complexes of a variety of geometries and to then use the angular overlap model to explore d-orbital energies when interacting with ligands whose esigma and epi energies can be varied.  

http://academics.wellesley.edu/Chemistry/Flick/Excel/angoverlap.xls

I developed this Jmol page to help my students see the relationship(s) between the ligands and metal d-orbitals in a number of different geometries.  Since the images are all rotatable, students who have difficulty looking at flat images and drawing appropriate conclusions have that barrier reduced or eliminated.  I have now used the application twice - this past fall in the second semester of introductory chemistry and a few weeks ago when I began ligand field theory in my inorganic course.  In both classes I received favorable comments.  A number of students in the inorganic course, who h

This is my all time favorite resource for finding out basic information about the elements. I love it. And all of my students do too.