Something like the copper cycle or alum synthesis labs?

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Wed, 08/09/2017 - 16:26

I teach an introductory inorganic course at the first year level.  One of the key skills I want them to master in those first weeks of lab is the idea of turning a chemical description into equations (plus at the same time learning basic lab technique like filtering and observing).  I have used both the copper cycle lab and an alum synthesis lab for this purpose in the past but I am getting a bit tired of those and looking for something new.

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Help with Co(en)3 prep

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Mon, 06/19/2017 - 15:06

Hi everyone. I'm troubleshooting the [Co(en)3]3+ prep from Girolami, Rachfuss and Angelici. The prep, briefly, is to take 6 g Co salt, 13 g en·2 HCl, 25 mL water, 8 g NaOH and then 20 mL of 3% H2O2. Then it says to dilute to 50 mL and heat to boiling. However, at the end of the addition, the volume is 70+ mL. My student yields were really low this spring (much lower than usual) so I am wondering if anyone else has worked on this.

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Table of OS, dn, CN, VEC for organometallic reactions

Submitted by Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College on Sun, 03/26/2017 - 15:36

Does anyone remember seeing a table in an inorganic text (I'm guessing circa 1980s vintage) that listed out all the various changes in OS, VEC, dnand CN for the various reactions in organometallic/inorganic chemistry? For example, for oxidative addition, OS, VEC and CN all change by +2, and dn goes down by 2. But this table was very complete and had radical reactions, insertions, ligand exchange reactions, and all sorts of other reactions listed as well.

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Using PowerPoint's "Morph" effect to demonstrate chemistry principles

Submitted by Luc Boisvert / University of Puget Sound on Sun, 10/23/2016 - 03:41

I just discovered the Morph effect in PowerPoint and it's pretty cool! Using this slide transition effect in PowerPoint has allowed me to do something that I have always wanted to do when teaching using PowerPoint: to smoothly animate ChemDraw drawings to demonstrate chemistry principles. Here is a link to a 30-second YouTube video where I demonstrate it on an E2 and a Diels-Alder reaction, a TLC elution, and an SN2 reaction with an energy diagram:

https://youtu.be/ypJ3fvyUWRs

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Bioinorganic

Submitted by Carmen Gauthier / Florida Southern College on Mon, 05/09/2016 - 12:16

I will be teaching a bio-inorganic course in the fall.  Could any one recommend a textbook?

Thank you,

 

Carmen

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