National ACS Award Winners 2021 LO Collection
This collection of learning objects was created to celebrate the National ACS Award Winners 2021 who are members of the Division of Inorganic Chemistry. The list of award winners is shown below.
The Organometallic Chemistry Behind the Polymer of Squares (Chirik)
Description
The discussion covers a 2021 publication by the Chirik group (Nature Chemistry, 2021, DOI: 10.1038/s41557-020-00614-w) which details the discovery of a new way to polymerize butadiene through iron-catalyzed [2+2] cycloadd
Linkage Photoisomerization of SO2 Bound to Osmium
Description
In this literature discussion, students are asked to explore the chemistry behind a eta-1 to eta-2 linkage photoisomer of sulfur dioxide bound to pentammine osmium. There are questions that tie to chemical structure and the nature of the two bonding modes of the ligand as well as an examination of the spectroscopic properties of the complex in the solid state. Two of the questions ask students to draw some conclusions based on their knowledge of periodic trends and the sigma donor ability of ligands.
SLiThEr #7: Assessment Using Literature Discussions
Description
This is the seventh SLiThEr () in the series. In this presentation/discussion, Dr. Shirley Lin explains how she used a literature discussion with students to assess their learning and knowledge. This was for a upper-division senior seminar course. In particular, she discusses questions at various levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. She also explains how to use concepts from Chemical Education Research to really dig down and assess student knowledge.
SLiThEr #1: Creating online inorganic chemistry labs
Description
This is the link to the first SLiThEr (Supporting Learning with Interactive Teaching: a Hosted, Engaging Roundtable), presented by Kyle Grice and Hosted by Chip Nataro. The SLiThEr was recorded and posted on YouTube (see the web resources link).
This particular roundtable focused on the teaching of a Junior/Senior-level inorganic chemistry laboratory completely online. Kyle presented on what he did in Spring 2020 when he had to pivot quickly to a fully remote modality with only a week or so of planning.
SLiThErs - Supporting Learning with Interactive Teaching: a Hosted, Engaging Roundtable
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.
Molecular Orbital and Bond Polarity
Description
In 2009, Flick Coleman at Wellesley whipped up a brilliant little web-based tool that showed how the electronegativity and energy difference of atomic orbitals leads to changes in the resulting molecular orbitals. I've used it every year. But it runs on Flash, Flash is about to die forever (no longer supported as of Jan 2021), and I don't think Flick is going to make us an HTML5 version. (And wow I know I can't do that. Does somebody else know how to do that?)
Comparing Homonuclear and Heteronuclear Diatomic Molecules with WebMO
Description
Students first learn the basics of WebMO by building and optimizing 2 small molecules. They then calculate and visualize the molecular orbitals of two diatomic molecules (N2 and BF) and observe how going from a homonuclear to heteronuclear molecule changes the shape of different molecular orbitals.
As written this activity uses the WebMO demo server so no computational chemistry software/licences are required.
Delta and Phi Bonding in Actinide Complexes
Description
This article provides an entry point for students to apply their knowledge of electron configurations and molecular orbital theory to the lanthanide and actinide elements. We have provided a large number of possible questions to use, grouped by theme. Instructors can pick and choose questions that best fit their course.
Jahn-Teller effect, theory and examples
Description
At a recent SLiThEr workshop, a request was put out for an introduction to the Jahn-Teller effect. I had already prepared several slides showcasing single crystal X-ray data for my class this spring so I put this together with some additional examples from my lab and the literature. Single crystal XRD data is presented to support the claims.