Spring 2016 CHEM 4244L: Inorganic Chemistry Lab
Scheduled Meeting Time: Tues 2:00-4:50 pm (Rogers 204/211)
Instructor: Dr. Ryan Meier
Office Hours: Mon 2:30-4, Tues 11-12, Wed & Fri 10-12
Office: Rogers 208
Phone:(706) 864-1506
Email: ryan.meier@ung.edu
Required Materials:
1. Inorganic Chemistry, 5th Ed., Shriver
2. Department loaned iPads
3. Safety glasses
Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this lab, students should:
- Become familiar common synthetic techniques for both organic and inorganic chemistry
- Be able to characterize inorganic compounds using multiple methods
- Understand and be able to explain experimental observations using knowledge gained from
inorganic lecture and/or publications on the topic
- Be able to find information about topics of interest using chemical literature
- Be able to understand and interpret the information given in literature papers
- Become familiar with and adapting the writing style common to chemistry publications
- Learn time management, organizational, and teamwork skills that are critical to being able to
conduct research in the future
- Become familiar with electronic notebooks and learn to communicate using technology that
is being used more prominently in both industry and academia
Course Description:
In an effort to introduce students to a more research-like laboratory setting, labs will be done
without a lab manual. Here is how the lab will eventually work:
o Week 1: Research the compound(s) and share references and proposed reactions
with lab partner and instructor via dropbox to prepare for group pre-lab meeting.
o Weeks 2 and 3: Take a brief quiz and conduct the experiment, recording
everything in your electronic notebook, which will be saved/stored in dropbox.
o Week 4: Each individual will submit an electronic of the formal report
o
We will gradually work up to this process and towards the end, weeks 3 and 4 of one lab will
likely overlab with weeks 1 and 2 of the following lab so it will be important to not fall behind
and to organize and plan your time wisely.
Department issued iPads will also be used in this class in an effort to create a near paperless
chemistry lab, but also to introduce students to electronic media that is spreading in use from
industry to academia as a replacement to more traditional paper notebooks.
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Lab Structure and Prelab Meetings:
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Students will work in groups of 2 or 3 on experiments, but reports will be written
individually for each experiment.
The first 2 experiments everyone will be doing the same lab as everyone gets accustomed to
the lab structure, but the following 3 experiments will be chosen by groups.
Literature searches will be an integral part of the course and necessary for all labs to help
prepare for short quizzes prior to each experiment to verify that each student understands the
concepts being highlighted and the safety concerns associated with each experiment.
Due to limitations on space and time, this will be a semi-open lab. Groups will be allowed to
work outside of the scheduled class time as long as they have prior approval (Wednesday
afternoons and Thursdays any time are the best times for me), but the majority of work
should be completed during the scheduled lab time.
It is the responsibility of the group, and all individuals in that group, to research their
experiment and to come up with a procedure for the lab. Procedures will not be given!
Since procedures will not be given, students will be required to have at least one source from
the chemical literature (this means a peer-reviewed high-quality journal or book publication
and does not include a procedure posted on another school’s website) where you have found
how the compounds were prepared and/or characterized prior to the prelab meeting.
Prior to beginning any work in the lab, the group must schedule and have a short meeting
with the instructor to have their proposed synthesis approved (should be at least 24 hours
prior to starting lab work), including a list of all chemicals to be used and any necessary
safety precautions. Plan for these meetings to last about 15-20 minutes depending on how
prepared the group is for the meeting.
o For each pre-lab meeting, groups should be prepared to answer the following:
o How do you propose to synthesize the target compound(s)?
o Are there any safety concerns regarding the reagents or proposed synthetic
techniques?
o How do you intend to characterize the target compound(s)?
o Additional lab-specific questions pertaining to important concepts that allow for
the understanding of the fundamental concepts being explored by the experiment.
After having all of their procedures approved, the group will then be allowed to conduct the
experiment. The instructor will show the group locations of the necessary chemicals/solvents
etc. and be available to help demonstrate any new synthetic or characterization techniques
Each group will be expected to not only synthesize the compounds they have been given, but
to also characterize their compound in a way that definitively shows what was prepared.
This can be done using a number of methods ranging from spectroscopic techniques like IR,
UV-Vis, or NMR to physical properties like color, magnetic moment, and melting point.
Upon successful synthesis and characterization of the assigned compounds, groups will write
a formal lab report in the style of an ACS publication (links to style guides and in detail
explanations of how to write these reports are available on Desire to Learn)
Each student/group will perform 5 labs throughout the course of the semester, 2 of which
everyone will begin with, and 3 of which students will choose from a provided list.
At the end of the semester, groups will be allowed to rewrite and resubmit one lab of their
choosing to be regraded for an improved score.
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Course Evaluation: Students will be evaluated mainly through written formal reports, but also
on their lab notebooks, lab performance, lab quizzes, and a lab final.
Grading:
Lab Reports (5)
Lab Quizzes (5)
Lab Final
Lab Notebook
Lab Performance
60%
10%
10%
10%
10%
Lab Reports:
Each student will submit a full formal report for every lab.
Directions and guidelines for writing these reports will be given
out and also posted on D2L.
Lab Notebook:
Each student will keep an electronic lab notebook (using the
department loaned iPads). Directions and guidelines for keeping a
lab notebook will be given out and also posted on D2L, but will
always be updated into Dropbox immediately after each lab period.
In addition to this, there will be information that should be present
in the notebooks prior to starting any work in the lab. This will be
detailed in the notebook instructions found on Desire to Learn.
Lab Quizzes:
Prior to beginning labwork for each experiment, there will be a
very short quiz (think 1211/1212 lab quiz short) over that lab’s
material, including safety, theory, and characterization techniques.
Lab Performance:
This will be my evaluation of individuals based on their
performance in the lab (from a safety and results standpoint).
Lab Final:
A cumulative exam over the major concepts and characterization
techniques that are covered in the course.
Grade cutoffs:
Letter grades will be assigned on a set 90/80/70/60 grading scale.
These grade cut-offs may be subject to change at the end of the
semester if the class average is lower than anticipated.
General Expectations:
Students in this course are expected to:
- Complete assigned tasks on time (Late work will be penalized 25% for each day it is late!)
- Work well with fellow students in the lab. Lab space will be tight at times and getting access
to instrumentation for characterization will sometimes have to be worked out with other
students as well, so be respectful of each other.
- Practice good laboratory safety and make sure to keep the lab at least as clean as it was
when you started.
- There will be zero tolerance for any kind of plagiarism on written reports, and violations will
result in at least failing that individual lab report, and possibly worse. Not citing a source is
plagiarism, and will be penalized harshly. Ignorance is never an acceptable excuse.
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Spring 2015 4244L Schedule and Course Structure
Week of:
Jan. 11 – Jan. 15th
th
Jan. 18th – Jan. 22nd
Jan. 25th – Jan. 29th
Feb 1st – Feb. 5h
Feb. 8th – Feb. 12th
Feb. 15th – Feb. 19th
Plan
Class Meeting on 1/12: Lecture Day
Introduction to course and syllabus. Go over course
structure; finalize groups and times for lab meetings and prelab meetings.
Introduce student-choice labs.
Assignment for next week: Select student-choice labs
Class meeting on 1/19: Lecture Day
Get preferences for student choice labs.
Distribute iPads and have students sign waivers.
Discuss general lab safety protocols.
Ensure that everyone’s iPads are functioning and synched.
A review of some general organometallic chemistry.
Overview of transition metal hydride chemistry and
inorganic characterization techniques.
Distribute hydride article.
Assignment for next week: use article given to prepare
notebooks for hydride lab and for lab quiz 1.
Class meeting on 1/26: Lab Day
Sample pre-lab meeting as class and pre-lab quiz.
Perform metal-hydride experiment.
Assignment for next week: Literature search for following
week on linkage isomerism to prepare for lab quiz 2. First
lab report due next Friday.
Class meeting on 2/2: Lecture Day
Briefly discuss previous week’s results, outcomes, and
meanings.
Overview of isomerization of coordination complexes and
relation of coordination compound bonding to
characterization techniques.
Overview of necessary organometallic reaction chemistry.
Feb. 5th: Hydride Lab Reports due by 2pm.
Class meeting on 2/9: Lab Day
Discuss the first round of lab reports.
Begin Linkage Isomerization Experiment.
Class meeting on 2/16: Lab Day
Briefly discuss previous week’s results.
Complete Linkage Isomerization Experiment.
Assign literature search for student choice lab #1.
Set meeting times for individual group meetings.
Assignment for next week: Prepare for lab quiz 3 and have
pre-lab meetings prior to starting experiment. Lab report due
next Friday for Linkage Isomerism.
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Week of:
Feb. 22 – Feb. 26th
nd
Feb. 29th – March 4th
March 7nd – March 11th
March 14th – March 18th
March 21st – March 25th
March 28th – April 1st
April 4th – April 8th
April 11th – April 15th
April 18th – April 22nd
April 25th – April 29th
Plan
Class meeting on 2/23: Lab Day
Briefly discuss previous week’s results.
Begin student choice lab #1.
Feb. 26th: Linkage Isomerization Reports due by 2pm.
Class meeting on 3/1: Lab Day
Discuss round 2 of lab reports.
Assign student choice lab #2 literature searches.
Set meeting times for individual group meetings.
Finish student choice lab #1.
For next week: Report due next Friday
Class meeting on 3/8: Lecture Day
Briefly discuss previous week’s results.
Introduction to inorganic areas of research.
- organometallic reactions and catalysis
- materials chemistry and nanoscience
- bioinorganic chemistry
Assign literature search and arrange pre-lab meeting times
for student choice lab #2 after break.
March 11th: Student choice lab #1 report due by 2pm.
No Class: Spring Break
Don’t have too much fun…
Class meeting on 3/22: Lab Day
Briefly discuss round 3 of lab reports.
Begin student-choice lab #2.
Class meeting on 3/29: Lab Day
Complete student-choice lab #2
Assign literature search and arrange pre-lab meeting times
for student choice lab #3.
Class meeting on 4/5: Lab Day
Begin student choice lab #3.
April 8th: Student choice lab #2 report due by 2pm.
Class meeting on 4/12: Lab Day
Discuss round 4 of reports.
Finish student choice lab #3.
Class meeting on 4/19: Semester Wrap Up Week 1
Briefly discuss previous week’s results.
Brief semester content review and lab day for potential snow
day make-ups.
Assign re-writes.
April 22nd: Student choice lab #3 report due by 2pm.
Class meeting on 4/26: Semester Wrap Up Week 2
Return iPads.
Take 4244 Lab Final Exam.
Take online surveys regarding iPad usage in course.
April 24th: Lab rewrites due by 2pm.
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Additional information pertaining to disabilities, academic integrity policies, etc are available at:
http://ung.edu/academic-affairs/policies-and-guidelines/supplemental-syllabus.php.
Accessibility Statement: If you need this or other course documents in another format,
please contact Alisha DeLozier at 706-864-1505 or Alisha.DeLozier@ung.edu.
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