In this literature assignment, students are asked to read an article from the primary literature on a binuclear manganese-peroxo complex that is similar to species proposed to be involved in photosynthetic water splitting and DNA biosynthesis. The assignment contains 25 questions that are intended to guide students through the article and help them extract important information about the work. The completed questions are then used as the basis for an in-class discussion of model complexes, which leads to a more advanced discussion on the topic.

While this assignment is geared towards an advanced course, aspects of this assignment (kinetics, structure, electron counting) would be suitable for a foundation-level course.

This literature discussion was created in memory of my friend, Elena Rybak-Akimova (one of the co-authors of the article), just after she passed away. I took a few minutes at the end of the class to talk about Elena and how her skill and knowledge in kinetics made much of this work possible.

In this literature discussion, students use a paper from the literature to explore the synthesis, structure, characterization (powder XRD, EDS and TEM) and energetics associated with the production of a metastable wurtzite CoS phase. Students also are asked define key terms and acronyms used in the paper; identify the goal of the experiments and determine if the authors met their goal. They examine the fundamental concepts around the key crystal structures available.  

Preserving Both Anion and Cation Sublattice Features during a Nanocrystal Cation-Exchange Reaction: Synthesis of a Metastable Wurtzite-Type CoS and MnS

Powell, A.E., Hodges J.M., Schaak, R.E. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 471-474.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.5b10624

There is an in class activitiy specifically written for this paper. 

This literature article covers a range of topics introduced in a sophomore level course (confinement/particle-in-a-box, spectroscopy, kinetics, mechanism) and would serve as a an end-of-course integrated activity, or as a review activity in an upper level course. The authors of the article employ UV-vis absorption spectroscopy of CdSe quantum dots as a tool to probe the growth mechanism of the nanoparticles, contrasting two pathways.

Reference:  DOI 10.1021/ja3079576 J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 17298-17305

This literature discussion is based on a paper describing the ligand-based reductive elimination of a diphosphine from a thorium compound (Organometallics, 2017, ASAP). The thorium compound contains two bidentate NHC ligands providing an opportunity to discuss the coordination of these ligands. The ligand-based reduction is very subtle and would be challenging for students to pick up without some guidance. The compound undergoing reductive elimination also presents an excellent introduction into magnetic nonequivalence and virtual coupling. In addition, the compounds presented in this paper provide the opportunity to do electron counting on f-block compounds. 

This LO is a problem-set-style literature discussion that leads students through a critical analysis of an interesting but flawed paper from the recent chemical literature.  Students use the questions to help them work through the paper prior to class, providing plenty of raw material for an in-class discussion about various aspects of the work from a mechanistic organometallic perspective.  The questions help students critically analyze substrate tables, spectroscopic data, and computational results from DFT.

This literature discussion is based on a paper by Bill Jones and Frank Feher (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1986, 108, 4814-4819). In this paper, they study the activation of aromatic C-H bonds by a rhodium complex. Through careful experimental design, they were able to examine isotope effects on the selectivity of the reaction. Analysis of the rate data allowed them to prepare a reaction coordinate free energy diagram. This paper also introduces the effects of C-H bond breaking in early or late transition states on the vibrational energy spacing at both ground and excited states. The paper is a good way to bring kinetic isotope effects into the classroom. The paper also introduces the concept of deuterium labeling experiments and what that information can tell you.

An important aspect of this paper, and what makes it so interesting, is that they are able to get two kinetic isotope effects, one for each step of the reaction. From these two KIEs alone they are able to determine the unexpected rate-determining step of the reaction. It is a triumph of mechanistic investigation into intermediates that are undetectable.

This LO presents a series of guided reading questions that help a student approach and understand the material presented in the paper in a more thorough way. Part one is a guided inquiry that allows the students to derive and understand differing zero point energies for proteated and deuterated compounds. Part two guides students  through the results presented in the paper to help them better understand how experimental data can be used to understand the mechanism of a chemical reaction. There is more to the paper than kinetic isotope effects, but that is the focus I chose while developing it. The LO is suitable for junior or senior undergraduates in an organometallics course or unit within an inorganic course.

I would like to acknowledge Ryan Pakula and Joanne Redford from my Chem 165 course in 2008 who wrote early versions of some of the questions about vibrational states, and a careful critical read by Nancy Williams, who understands this stuff at a much deeper level than I do.