This is a literature discussion regarding electron counting.  It involves several opportunities for students to use CBC to determine electron counts themselves.  Then, it demonstrates the first case of a 21-electron complex, which leads to great discussion regarding the 18-electron rule.  Throughout the discussion, students are introduced to many structural and spectrochemical analyses, some of which may be new to them.

This literature discussion was created for the ACS National Award Winners 2024 collection. Dr. James McCusker was the recipient of the Josef Michl ACS Award in Photochemistry.

In fall 2023, Jarad Mason from Harvard University was awarded the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry for his contributions to the fields of phase-change materials, microporous materials, and materials chemistry.  In this literature discussion, students will examine his recent paper “Microporous water with high gas solubilities," Nature 2022, 608, 712-718 which is related to that work.

This literature discussion was created on invitation as part of a broad collection of learning objects celebrating Spring 2024 ACS award winners conducting research in Inorganic Chemistry. This learning object is in celebration of Prof. Christopher J.

I regularly give an oral exam instead of a written exam in my junior and senior level organometallics seminar course. The course focuses on the primary literature, discussion of advanced topics, and asking questions. A written exam would not evaluate the students' abilities on the important skill development they learned in the class. Besides, I am better able to gauge when a student has no idea about a certain topic, or just needs a little nudge in order for them to demonstrate that they actually understand 95% of it.