This Literature Discussion LO was created for the 2023 ACS Inorganic Chemistry Award Winners collection. Professor Shannon Stahl was the recipient of the 2023 Organometallic Chemistry Award. This LO is based on a recent paper from the Stahl group entitled "Can Donor Ligands Make Pd(OAc)2 a Stronger Oxidant? Access to Elusive Palladium(II) Reduction Potentials and Effects of Ancillary Ligands via Palladium(II)/Hydroquinone Reox Equilibria" published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 19678-19688.

This LO focuses on creating complexes with multiple bonds between late transition metals and nitrogen. The questions will guide students through Mindiola and Hillhouse's communication that details the synthesis and investigation of three-coordinate terminal amido and imido complexes of nickel. This communication is significant because it describes the synthesis and structural characterization of what became known as his "double nickel" complex, which contains a Ni-N double bond.  

This Learning Object is dedicated to Prof. Claudia Turro as part of the VIPEr LGBTQIAN+ LO collection created in celebration of Pride Month (Jun) 2022. Prof. Turro was featured in the April 2022 special virtual issue Out in Inorganic Chemistry: A Celebration of LGBTQIAPN+ Inorganic Chemists (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c00729). Claudia holds a special place in my heart. I came out later in life, and she was incredibly supportive as I wrestled with my identity as a gay man.

This Guided Literature Discussion was assigned as a course project and is the result of work originated by students Elina Andreassen and Abigail Palmer.

Lignin material from plants may be transformed into useful organic materials.  This LO is part of a special VIPEr collection honoring the 2022 ACS National Award recipients in the field of inorganic chemistry. Mahdi Abu Omar was the recipient of the ACS Award in Green Chemistry for his contributions to fundamental science and technology development for catalytic lignin conversion to renewable chemicals, fuels, and materials following green chemistry and engineering principles.