My technique for constructing MO diagrams is based on (and significantly simplified from) that of Verkade.  While I find it works well in my classroom for my students, they benefit from careful step-by-step instruction of the method through several weeks of in-class exercises.  This LO has links to pencasts where I go through three easy examples that demonstrate the technique, as well has how I handle lone pairs by this method.  As transition metal complexes don’t have stereochemically active lone pairs, they are often easier to deal with than even something seemingly as simple as water!

I use this in-class exercise after I have taught the students how to construct LGOs using the generator orbital technique.  The previous week, they do an in-class exercise on that topic, and this week, they use the LGOs from the previous week to construct MO diagrams.

This Lewis structure and VSEPR problem is based on a paper from Inorganic Chemistry in 2010 reporting the crystal structures of a series of salts of the [XeF]⁺ cation.  The [MF₆]^– and [M₂F₁₁]^– anions (M = As, Sb, Bi) were used as counterions, and in all cases, the [XeF]⁺ cation interacts with the anion via a weak bond between the Xe and a fluoride of the anion to form an ion-pair in the crystalline solid.  These somewhat unusual ions provide an interesting application of the predictive powers of Lewis stru

This Lewis structure and VSEPR problem is based on a paper from Inorganic Chemistry in 2010 reporting the crystal structure of the carbonyl diazide molecule.  This relatively simple molecule provides an interesting application of the predictive powers of Lewis structures and VSEPR theory to molecular structure, backed up by experimental data on bond distances and bond angles.  Before tackling carbonyl diazide, the students warm up by considering the structures of hydrogen azide and the isolated azide ion.  The reference to the original paper is

I use these two handouts early in my inorganic course to outline how to count electrons and assign ligand types in a metal complex.  I introduce it early so that I can use the terms "X" and "L" in class.  I come back to it and hit it again when I do my unit on organometallics. The "ligands" handout is my interpretation of the MLH Green paper from 1995 (Green, M. L. H., J. Organometal.