The Periodic Table of Life

Submitted by Katherine Franz / Duke University, Department of Chemistry on Fri, 04/20/2012 - 08:50
Description

A little more than 5 slides, this is a video I made for a colleague to use in General Chemistry as an intro, or hook, into exciting topics in chemistry (in this case, bioinorganic).  I use these slides as an intro to my junior/senior Inorganic course on the first day of class, to ask the question "What is Inorganic Chemistry?" and get them to think about the "living" parts of "inorganic".  Topics include an overview of essential, toxic, and medicinally active elements of the periodic table, key examples of metalloprotein active sites, and an overview of the functional roles of biological in

How does changing solvent affect redox potential?

Submitted by Sheila Smith / University of Michigan- Dearborn on Wed, 09/21/2011 - 11:32
Description

There are three ways to modulate the redox potential of a metalloenzyme:  Changing ligands, changing geometry, and changing solvent. When I introduce this topic in Bioinorganic, I try to give my students concrete examples of each.  I love this one because it applies what they learned in Gen Chem about the Nernst Equation to a biological problem.  Granted, I don't use a metalloenzyme as my example, but I do pull the biological chemistry into it at the end, by referrring to the cytochrome oxidase/O2 couple.  

Bioinorganic Introduction: Periodic Table

Submitted by Sheila Smith / University of Michigan- Dearborn on Tue, 09/13/2011 - 16:05
Description

I use this introductory exercise at the beginning (the very first thing) of my one semester topics course in Bioinorganic Chemistry and as the first exercise in my Bioinorganic unit in my senior level Inorganic Course.  The exercise is a very simple one, but generates a lot of great discussion, requiring students to access knowledge from prior chemistry and biology courses, as well s common knowledge from sources external to their academic career.  Students are often surprised to see how much they know before a topic is covered.  

Macroscopic, particle and symbolic representations of aqueous reactions

Submitted by Kristen Murphy / University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sat, 06/25/2011 - 13:32
Description

Students in the courses I teach (primarily general chemistry) have struggled with understanding the three representations of matter: macroscopic, particle, and symbolic. This is particularly evident when these representations extend into reactions. Additionally, students struggle with understanding basic concepts of aqueous solutions and, by extension, reactions in aqueous solution. This activity is designed to help the students recognize different types of representations and then generate these for simple systems.

The [XeF]+ Cation and Ion-Pairing in [MF6]– and [M2F11]– Salts (M = As, Sb, Bi)

Submitted by Maggie Geselbracht / Reed College on Sat, 03/19/2011 - 17:53
Description

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

Student Literature-Based Organometallic Lecture

Submitted by Jeffrey Rood / Elizabethtown College on Mon, 01/03/2011 - 14:42
Description
I taught an advanced inorganic chemistry course for the first time this past fall. I focused strictly on organometallic chemistry and we used Spessard and Miessler's book. Because this book is focused on transition metal organometallics, I wanted the students to appreciate some of the organometallic chemistry of the s- and p-block (and zinc). Students worked in pairs (the class size was 12) and had most of the semester to research the literature and develop a 40-50 minute lecture. I also had them develop homework questions and an in class activity to help engage the other students.

Synthesis and characterization of 12-tungstosilicic acid - a modification

Submitted by Randall Hicks / Wheaton College on Mon, 11/15/2010 - 23:25
Description
This lab experiment is an update on the synthesis of the title acid. An account of this synthesis can be found in William Jolly's book, The Synthesis and Characterization of Inorganic Compounds. The synthetic procedure is reliable and was retained. However, I modified some content and added components to extend to a two-week experiment. This lab now covers the synthesis, an acid-base titration with error analysis, and the use of TGA to complement the titration results.

First Isolation of the AsP3 Molecule

Submitted by Anne Bentley / Lewis & Clark College on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 13:47
Description

Early in 2009, Christopher Cummins’ group at MIT reported (in Science) the synthesis of AsP3, a compound that had never been isolated at room temperature.  Later that year, a full article was published in JACS comparing the properties and reactivity of AsP3 to those of its molecular cousins, P4 and As4.  The longer article is full of possibilities for discussion in inorganic chemistry courses, with topics including periodic trends, NMR, vibrational spectroscopy, electrochemistry, molecular orbital theory, and coordination chemistry.

Element Jeopardy!

Submitted by Keith Walters / Northern Kentucky University on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 11:44
Description

Like many inorganic faculty (especially those faced with trying to teach "all" of inorganic chemistry in a one-term junior/senior course), I have found it increasingly difficult over the years to include any significant descriptive chemistry content in my course. Moreover, I have a constant interest in trying to convey some of the "story behind the story" in chemistry, which in this area centers on the discovery of the elements. I was mulling this over at an ACS meeting one time and happened to be in an inorganic teaching session where Josh van Houten (St.

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