Advanced Inorganic Chemistry

Chem 342Miessler & Tarr, 4th

edition

Syllabus

• Goals & Objectives• Textbook (bring to class)• Attendance & Grading

2 take-home exams + final (55%)homework (15%)literature presentation (10%)literature exam (15%)participation (5%)

Course Content

• Chapters 1-5 (bonding theories)Chapter 6, Acid-Base & Donor-Acceptor TheoryChapters 9, 10, 12 (coordination chemistry)

Chapter 11, Coord Chem: Electronic Spectra Chapters 13, 14 (organometallic chemistry)Chapter 16, Bioinorganic & Environmental Chem

Experimental Methods in Inorganic Chemistry Nanochemistry; noncovalent interactions

Chapter 1 - Intro to Inorganic• What is it?• Sub-fields:

main-group, coordination chemistry, organometallic, bioinorganic, physical inorganic, heavy-metals, trans-uranium……..

• How does it compare to Organic Chemistry?• Compounds with single, double, triple bonds• Inorganic compounds can contain quadruple

bonds (sigma + pi + pi + delta bond)[Cl4Re≡ReCl4]2–

• Carbon: maximum number of connections = 4• Inorganic: carbon is found in carbon

cluster compounds, in bridging alkyl groups

Chapter 1 - Intro to Inorganic• Organic: H is a terminal atom, only bonds to

one other element. Inorganic: The same rules do not apply. Lewis structure of B2H6?

• Organic: Limited geometries (linear, trigonal planar, tetrahedral, bent). Inorganic: Also square planar, trigonal bipyramid, octahedral, and more

• Inorganic also has aromatic compounds (borazine B3N3H6)

History of Inorganic Chemistry• Ancient times through Alchemy:

– Descriptive chemistry, techniques, minerals (Cu compounds), glasses, glazes, gunpowder

• 17th Century– Mineral acids (HCl, HNO3, H2SO4), salts and their

reactions, acid and bases– Quantitative work became important, molar mass,

gases, volumes– 1869: The periodic table

• Late 1800s: Chemical Industry – Isolate, refine, purify metals and compounds

• 1896: Discovery of Radioactivity– Atomic structure, quantum mechanics, nuclear

chemistry (through early 20th century)

History of Inorganic Chemistry• 20th Century

– Coordination chemistry, organometallic chemistry– WWII & Military projects: Manhattan project, jet fuels

(boron compounds)

• 1950s– Crystal field theory, ligand field theory, molecular

orbital theory

• 1955– Organometallic catalysis of organic reaction

(polymerization of ethylene)

• Modern Issues– Bioinorganic chemistry (nitrogen fixation), modeling

biochemical process, enzymes, x-ray crystallography,– nanochemistry, manipulation of noncovalent

interactions

Take a Look

• Literature taken from Inorganic Chemistry

• Take a quick look:What are the sub-fields?What do you recognize, understand?What looks foreign?