A collection of all of the IONiC VIPEr SLiThErs (Supporting Learning with Interactive Teaching: a Hosted, Engaging Roundtable). These events are short presentations on a topic followed by a period of discussion between the presenter and live participants. Each of these events is recorded and posted to the IONiC VIPEr YouTube Channel.
This literature discussion was prepared as part of the 2025 ACS awards collection in honor of Gary J. Schrobilgen, winner of the M. Frederick Hawthorne Award in Main Group Inorganic Chemistry.
This is a literature discussion focused on calculating and comparing the Mulliken electronegativites of the noble gases. Students can explore how this periodic property extends into the noble gases and impacts the observed reactivity of Group 18 compounds. The discussion could be used either as an in-class activity or a homework assignment.
There are several LO's on the site that use the Orbitron which unfortunately is no longer available. Here is another option that should allow use of those LO's.
The MoleCVUE website contains several items that should be of interest to the VIPEr community, especially the activities. Each activity is designed to be ready to deploy in lecture, laboratory, or as homework. There are activities covering all of the major subdisciplines of chemistry (some more than others). Some activities that might be of particular interest to VIPEr are "Group Theory", "VSEPR", and "Electron Configurations of Atoms and Ions". All of the activities are written to use WebMO, but could be adapted for other systems. Most activities are doable with the free or demo versi
This POGIL based activity is intended to review general chemistry concepts of atomic structure and to further those concepts with additional attention to d orbitals and radial distribution graphs. The primary model in the activity is The Orbitron website (https://winter.group.shef.ac.uk/orbitron/) with students examining the isosurface and radial distributions for a variety of orbitals.
This Literature Discussion LO was created for the ACS Inorganic Chemistry Award Winners. Dr. Kit Cummins was the recipient of the 2023 Frederick Hawthorne Award in Main Group Inorganic Chemistry. This LO is based on a recent paper from the group of Dr. Cummins, entitled "Sustainable Production of Reduced Phosphorus Compounds: Mechanochemical Hydride Phosphorylation Using Condensed Phosphates as a Route to Phosphite", published in ACS Central Science, 2022, 8, 332-339.
This LO is a literature discussion based on one figure in Chan et. al.
This LO uses borane and carborane clusters to practice assigning point groups and counting electrons. It also asks students to recall electronegativity trends to predict dipoles, and they can check their predictions against calculated Mulliken charges.
The second cohort of VIPEr fellows pulled together learning objects that they've used and liked or want to try the next time they teach their inorganic courses.