Metallocene cations and anions

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Tue, 09/23/2025 - 11:39
Description

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.

Hydrocyanation

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Mon, 07/07/2025 - 07:35
Description

This literature discussion was inspired by a talk given by Dr. Nora Radu, recipient of the 2025 ACS Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry. It is a bit 'big picture' in nature in that the hydrocyanation reaction is important for the synthesis of nylon. As such, there is a significant amount of background material relating to nylon-6,6. Students will read an article from C&EN, portions of a patent, and portions of an article from J. Chem.

Determining Oxidation State: The Arrow Pushing Method

Submitted by Jared Pienkos / University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Mon, 04/14/2025 - 10:05
Description
    1. Determining the oxidation state of atoms is foundational in chemistry. For inorganic chemistry, students must be able to accurately calculate oxidation numbers of transition metals, which can differ depending on the ligands attached.

3D Printed Crystal Structure Activity

Submitted by Chris Stromberg / Hood College on Wed, 03/19/2025 - 18:49
Description

This exercises uses beads to help show how different crystal structures are formed.  The exercise includes 3D-printed boxes with starting structures incorporated in the bottom to increase the stability of structures that students build.  The exercise also includes a number of additional 3D-printed manipulatives to help students visualize the unit cells and other properties of different crystal structures.  These include unit cells with accurate atomic and hold dimensions and several different ways to visualize the layer structures in close-packed structures.

Scandium Carbonyls - mysterious myth or legendary legend?

Submitted by James F. Dunne / Central College on Thu, 03/06/2025 - 14:36
Description

This literature discussion is based on a short JACS communication reporting the first isolable Sc(II) carbonyls (not a typo) and isocyanides.  The paper discusses some standard synthesis and characterization while exploring a more fundamental question regarding why Sc, a d-block metal, is considered a rare-earth and when it stops reacting analogously to the rare-earth metals.  The LO focuses on ye olde carbonyl stretching frequencies and back-bonding and makes a nice follow up to an introduction to that concept.  It tries to make students explicitly connect electron configuration to changes

Nickel-Catalyzed Enantioconvergent and Diastereoselective Allenylation of Alkyl Electrophiles: Simultaneous Control of Central and Axial Chirality (Greg C. Fu)
Description

This literature discussion LO was created for the ACS National Award Winners 2025 collection. Dr. Greg C. Fu for being the recipient of the Gabor A. Somorjai Award for Creative Research in Catalysis 2025 from the American Chemical Society.

Shirley Lin / United States Naval Academy Sat, 03/01/2025 - 14:36

National ACS Award Winners 2025 LO Collection

Submitted by Shirley Lin / United States Naval Academy on Sat, 03/01/2025 - 14:12

This collection of learning objects was created to celebrate the National ACS Award Winners 2025 who conduct research related to inorganic chemistry.

The list of award winners included in this collection are shown below. (* denotes learning object pending) IONiC members are welcome to develop more LOs for the collection.

 

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Geometry of macrocyclic Cu complexes

Submitted by James F. Dunne / Central College on Wed, 02/26/2025 - 12:19
Description

This literature discussion introduces students to various tetradentate ligands not commonly seen in textbooks.  Students can apply knowledge of ligand binding to predict coordination geometry while exploring how the 3D nature of more complex ligands can affect their coordination to a metal.

AsF5 - a superacid for super review!

Submitted by James F. Dunne / Central College on Fri, 02/21/2025 - 13:02
Description

This LO was developed as a review activity for the end of the semester.  Students are required to touch on a wide range of topics including acid-base theories, crystal systems, point groups, the spectrochemical series, and 19F NMR spectroscopy.  A close reading of the paper is required helping to build student comprehension of the literature.

Eight Coordinate Zirconium?

Submitted by James F. Dunne / Central College on Fri, 02/21/2025 - 11:43
Description

This discussion is intended as a brief application of symmetry and ligand coordination to a novel Zr compound. Students apply VSEPR and molecular symmetry to an uncommon organometallic compound, and apply the coordination mode to basic reactivity. It is intended for an in-class activity but could easily be assigned as a short homework assignment.