A Viewpoint article highlighting IONiC and VIPEr has just appeared in Articles ASAP in the journal Inorganic Chemistry (DOI: 10.1021/ic2006919)!  The goal of the article is to strengthen the connections between cutting-edge research and the undergraduate classroom.  We think that IONiC and VIPEr are excellent resources to build these connections and bring the excitement of research into our undergraduate courses.

Dear Fellow Vipers

I find that the periodic tables in general chemistry textbooks are not consistent.  In some textbooks, Ce is the first lanthanide and ends with Lu.  In other texts, I see that La is the first lanthanide & ends with Yb.  I would argue the format should be the former since Lu3+ is a f14 element.  I'm sure there are papers on this topic, but it still drives me nuts that elements can be placed in different positions.  What are your thoughts?

Dear Colleagues,

I must admit that ChemDraw has improved significantly over the years for drawing inorganic and organometallic structures, but there are still issues. ChemDraw has an option "clean up structure" which works well for "fine tuning" organic molecules, but it doesn't work well for inorganic molecules. Perhaps the issue is program treats the metal ions as if they are "carbon". I am not sure. Has anyone else noticed this?

Sibrina

In reading inorganic teaching materials I've noticed an opposing orbital overlap trend.  In the context of covalent solid state materials in the carbon column (all diamond-like structure), as you go down the column orbital overlap is said to decrease due to larger and larger atom size, thus leading to weaker bonding interactions and smaller band gaps.  (Carbon is an insulator, silicon and germanium are semiconductors, alpha-tin is a metal.)

Here's a short question to ponder for an April Friday afternoon. 

Consider the dimethylthiocarbamate ligand (dtc, structure shown on p. 328 of Miessler & Tarr 4th edition), which can coordinate to metals in a bidentate fashion through both sulfur atoms.  Why, on the other hand, does a ligand like oxalate coordinate through only one oxygen of the carboxylate resonance pair?  (Oxalate is bidentate, but only because it has two carboxylate groups.)

Dear Colleagues,

I am teaching an advanced inorganic course with 11 students this semester. Nine of my 11 students are now officially members of the VIPEr family. They registered today! At the end of the semester, these students are preparing a powerpoint presentation (5 slides About) that I hope will be useful VIPEr content. Topics include metal carbonyls, metal carbenes, metal hydrides, metal alkenes, and all about ferrocene! 

Sibrina

Dear Colleagues,

I want to purchase a good model kit for inorganic complexes. Any recommendations? I would love to have a model of tris complexes that contain the ethylenediamine ligand.