
SCIENCE EDUCATION > Chemistry
Inorganic Chemistry
This collection covers a range of inorganic chemistry protocols and concepts including air-free techniques, syntheses of transition metal based compounds, core inorganic chemistry concepts like Lewis Acid and Bases, and advanced analysis techniques including EPR spectroscopy.
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Synthesis Of A Ti(III) Metallocene Using Schlenk Line Technique
Source: Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
Inorganic chemists often work with highly air- and water-sensitive compounds. The two most common and practical methods for air-free synthesis utilize either Schlenk lines or gloveboxes. This experiment will demonstrate how to perform simple manipulations on a Schlenk line with a focus on solvent preparation and transfer. Through the synthesis of a
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Glovebox and Impurity Sensors
Source: Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
The glovebox provides a straightforward means to handle air- and moisture-sensitive solids and liquids. The glovebox is what it sounds like: a box with gloves attached to one or more sides, which allows the user to perform manipulations within the glovebox under an inert atmosphere.
For manipulations under inert atmospheres, chemists can choose
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Purification of Ferrocene by Sublimation
Source: Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
Sublimation, the direct phase transition of a solid into a gas without first becoming a liquid, takes place at temperatures and pressures lower than that of the compound's triple point (Figure 1).The process of sublimation can be utilized to purify both organic and inorganic solids. During the purification technique, a solid is heated directly into
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The Evans Method
Source: Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
While most organic molecules are diamagnetic, wherein all their electrons are paired up in bonds, many transition metal complexes are paramagnetic, which has ground states with unpaired electrons. Recall Hund's rule, which states that for orbitals of similar energies, electrons will fill the orbitals to maximize the number of unpaired electrons before
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Single Crystal and Powder X-ray Diffraction
Source: Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
X-ray crystallography is a technique that uses X-rays to study the structure of molecules. X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments are routinely carried out with either single-crystal or powdered samples.
Single-crystal XRD:
Single-crystal XRD allows for absolute structure determination. With single-crystal XRD data, the exact atomic positions
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Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Spectroscopy
Source: David C. Powers, Tamara M. Powers, Texas A&M
In this video, we will learn the basic principles behind Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR). We will use EPR spectroscopy to study how dibutylhydroxy toluene (BHT) behaves as an antioxidant in the autoxidation of aliphatic aldehydes.
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Mössbauer Spectroscopy
Source: Joshua Wofford, Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
Mössbauer spectroscopy is a bulk characterization technique that examines the nuclear excitation of an atom by gamma rays in the solid state. The resulting Mössbauer spectrum provides information about the oxidation state, spin state, and electronic environment around the target atom, which, in combination, gives evidence
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Lewis Acid-Base Interaction in Ph3P-BH3
Source: Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
One of the goals of chemistry is to use models that account for trends and provide insights into the properties of reactants that contribute to reactivity. Substances have been classified as acids and bases since the time of the ancient Greeks, but the definition of acids and bases has been modified and expanded over the years.
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Structure Of Ferrocene
Source: Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
In 1951, Kealy and Pauson reported to Nature the synthesis of a new organometallic compound, ferrocene.1 In their original report, Pauson suggested a structure for ferrocene in which the iron is singly bonded (sigma bonds) to one carbon atom of each cyclopentadiene ligand (Figure 1, Structure I).
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Application of Group Theory to IR Spectroscopy
Source: Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
Metal carbonyl complexes are used as metal precursors for the synthesis of organometallic complexes as well as catalysts. Infrared (IR) spectroscopy is one of the most utilized and informative characterization methods of CO containing compounds. Group theory, or the use of mathematics to describe the symmetry of a molecule, provides a method to predict the
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Molecular Orbital (MO) Theory
Source: Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
This protocol serves as a guide in the synthesis of two metal complexes featuring the ligand 1,1'-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene (dppf): M(dppf)Cl2, where M = Ni or Pd. While both of these transition metal complexes are 4-coordinate, they exhibit different geometries at the metal center. Using molecular orbital (MO) theory in conjunction with
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Quadruply Metal-Metal Bonded Paddlewheels
Source: Corey Burns, Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
Paddlewheel complexes are a class of compounds comprised of two metal ions (1st, 2nd, or 3rd row transition metals) held in proximity by four bridging ligands (most commonly formamidinates or carboxylates) (Figure 1). Varying the identity of the metal ion and the bridging ligand provides access to large families of
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Dye-sensitized Solar Cells
Source: Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
Today's modern world requires the use of a large amount of energy. While we harness energy from fossil fuels such as coal and oil, these sources are nonrenewable and thus the supply is limited. To maintain our global lifestyle, we must extract energy from renewable sources. The most promising renewable source, in terms of abundance, is the sun, which
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Synthesis of an Oxygen-Carrying Cobalt(II) Complex
Source: Deepika Das, Tamara M. Powers, Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
Bioinorganic chemistry is the field of study that investigates the role that metals play in biology. Approximately half of all proteins contain metals and it is estimated that up to one third of all proteins rely on metal-containing active sites to function. Proteins that feature metals, called metalloproteins, play a vital role in a variety of
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Photochemical Initiation Of Radical Polymerization Reactions
Source: David C. Powers, Tamara M. Powers, Texas A&M
In this video, we will carry out the photochemically initiated polymerization of styrene to generate polystyrene, which is an important commodity plastic. We will learn the fundamentals of photochemistry and use simple photochemistry to initiate radical polymerization reactions. Specifically, in this module we will examine the photochemistry of benzoyl peroxide and its role as a
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