This is a really interesting paper in J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2025, 147, 34641-34646) involving a complex salt in which both the cation and anion are metallocenes. While a majority of the paper is focused on the characterization of two new compounds, it presents some excellent opportunities to practice counting electrons, one of which was a challenge to this author.

This literature discussion is in honor of Dr. Josh Figueroa, recipient of the 2026 F. Albert Cotton Award in Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry. Josh has done some tremendous work with isocyanide ligands and this paper is but a brief glimpse into this field. The complexes of interest contain carbonyl ligands and isocyanide ligands, so there are plenty of opportunities for students to use group theory to predict the number of IR-active vibrations for these ligands.

A discussion about the 2023 ACS Guidelines for Undergraduate Chemistry Programs with Michelle Brooks (Assistant Director of the Office of Higher Education at ACS), Cora MacBeth (Emory University) and Barb Reisner (James Madison University). Additional discussion is available to registered faculty users.

This goes back to SLiThEr #14 when we interviewed two senior undergraduates in the midst of the COVID pandemic. At the time of this SLiThEr, both are in graduate school and getting close to their PhD.

Reilly Gwinn (Virginia Tech) and Sydney Towell (UNC - Chapel Hill) update us on their career paths.

This two-part activity offers an integrated approach to understanding molecular orbitals and molecular geometry. In class, students will first engage in a hands on, qualitative construction of the H₂O molecular orbital diagram using symmetry principles and a whiteboard.