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.

Video explanations and practice problems of basic chemistry and math topics

Submitted by Lori Watson / Earlham College on Wed, 02/24/2010 - 15:34
Description

This is a website which links to a wide variety of good quality YouTube mini-lectures on basic topics in chemistry, mathematics, physics and a variety of other sciences.  Each video is about 10 minutes long and many go through example problems slowly and completely.  

Biological and medical examples in intro chem at MIT

Submitted by Joanne Stewart / Hope College on Fri, 01/01/2010 - 16:29
Description

I read about these new biology examples for intro chem in a recent Association for Women in Science (AWIS) Washington Wire (December 2009, Issue II).  Professor Catherine Drennan from MIT and her colleagues introduced "examples of biological and medical topics that demonstrate chemistry principles into her introductory chemistry lectures to highlight the connection between the fields of biology and medicine, that students often love, and chemistry."  Their assessment showed that the examples increased student satisfaction with the course.

Siderophore Building: In class Exercise

Submitted by Sheila Smith / University of Michigan- Dearborn on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 21:25
Description
This is an in-class exercise (brainstorming) designed to lead the student through the design of a siderophore (or "iron lover") by applying his knowledge of Lewis acid- base chemistry (specifically HSAB theory), geometry and entropy. This is a good start for a discussion of iron transport and storage in the bioinorganic section of Inorganic II (transition metals). I also use it in my junior level descriptive course when we discuss coordination chemistry.

Interactive Spreadsheets for Inorganic Chemistry

Submitted by Lori Watson / Earlham College on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 15:28
Description

This web site contains a number of interactive spreadsheets, most of which are applicable to inorganic chemistry (or a physical chemistry class that uses inorganic examples).  Here's the list of the most relevant for most inorganic classes:

 

ABC kinetics - interactively plot concentration versus reaction extent for A, B and C in A -> B -> C by varying k values

House: Inorganic Chemistry

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Mon, 01/12/2009 - 15:35
Description

House (Inorganic chemistry):  The book is divided into 5 parts:  first, an introductory section on atomic structure, symmetry, and bonding; second, ionic bonding and solids; third, acids, bases and nonaqueous solvents; fourth, descriptive chemistry; and fifth, coordination chemistry.  The first three sections are short, 2-4 chapters each, while the descriptive section (five chapters) and coordination chemistry section (seven chapters covering ligand field theory, spectroscopy, synthesis and reaction chemistry, organometallics, and bioinorganic chemistry.) are longer.  Each chapter includes

Miessler and Tarr: Inorganic Chemistry, 3rd. Ed

Submitted by Nancy Williams / Scripps College, Pitzer College, Claremont McKenna College on Fri, 03/28/2008 - 16:44
Description

Miessler and Tarr is an inorganic textbook which is is best suited to an upper-division one-semester inorganic course, though there is more material than can be covered in a single semester, so some choice of topics is necessary.  It is very well suited for a course oriented around structure, bonding, and reaction chemistry of transition metal compounds, but is very limited in its treatment of solids, main-group, descriptive chemistry, and bioinorganic.  Pchem would be helpful but is not necessary.  In particular, the treatment of MO theory is very in-depth.  The quality of end-of chapter p

Housecroft and Sharpe: Inorganic Chemistry, 3ed

Submitted by Lori Watson / Earlham College on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 20:01
Description

Housecroft and Sharpe (Inorganic Chemistry, 3ed): This is a comprehensive inorganic textbook designed primarily for students at the Junior/Senior level. P-Chem would not be needed as a prerequisite for this text, but would be helpful. It includes both theoretical and descriptive material along with special topics, enough for a two semester course though it is easily adaptable to a one-semester "advanced inorganic" course by choosing only some topics. It is written in a clear and generally readable style and the full-color graphic contribute to student understanding.

Literature Discussion: "Analysis of an Unprecedented Mechanism for the Catalytic Hydrosilylation of Carbonyl Compounds"

Submitted by Lori Watson / Earlham College on Sun, 03/09/2008 - 16:14
Description

This is a literature discussion assignment in which students read a paper, come up with their own answers to the provided questions (and submit them).  This is followed by a general in-class discussion on the paper.  This particular article deals with hydrosilyation of carbonyl compounds by a Re catalyst and describes the mechanism and kinetics in detail.  I found it a good paper to help students connect their P-chem (and inorganic) kinetics with a "real" system.  As part of the literature assignment, I also ask students to draw an MO diagram of a simple substrate (for review).

Smelting with Thag and Friends

Submitted by Nancy Williams / Scripps College, Pitzer College, Claremont McKenna College on Thu, 03/06/2008 - 12:31
Description

This is just a little worksheet that I use in a General Chemistry course to teach Gibbs Free Energy calculations and the idea of a coupled reaction, while foreshadowing ideas from metallurgy and electrochemistry (sacrificial reductants, entropy-driven smelting, fuels as reductants) for the end of the course when I generally address these.