Unit 2
Inorganic chemistry
1. Read paragraphs below and translate them to Vietnamese:
Inorganic chemistry
Inorganic chemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the properties and
reactions of inorganic compounds. This field covers all chemical compounds except the
myriad organic compounds (carbon based compounds, usually containing C-H bonds),
which are the subjects of organic chemistry. Inorganic chemistry is often divided into
many subfields such as solid-state chemistry, organometallic chemistry, and bioinorganic
chemistry. Research in inorganic chemistry is leading to progress in many areas such as
superconductivity, microchip development, and cancer research.
Solid-state chemistry
Solid-state chemists study structure and properties of inorganic compounds to
fabricate new, more useful materials. This important area focuses on structure, bonding,
and physical properties of materials. In practice, solid-state chemistry uses techniques
such as crystallography to gain an understanding of properties resulted from collective
interactions between subunits of solids. Included in solid state chemistry are metals and
their alloys or intermetallic derivatives. Related fields are condensed matter physics,
mineralogy, and materials science.
Organometallic chemistry
An extremely active area of research in recent years is the study of organometalliccompounds and of transition metals bonding to organic chemical groups. Organometallic
compounds are considered to contain M-C-H group. The metal (M) in these species can
either be a main group element or a transition metal. Operationally, the definition of
organometallic compounds is more relaxed to include also highly lipophilic complexes
such as metal carbonyls and even metal alkoxides. Organometallic compounds are used
for prodution of semiconductor wafers to form highly protective coatings on steel tools
such as high speed drills.
Bioinorganic chemistry
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Bioinorganic chemistry is a field that examines the role of metals in biology.
Bioinorganic chemistry includes the study of both natural phenomena such as the
behavior of metalloproteins as well artificially introduced metals, including those that are
non-essential, in medicine and toxicology. Many biological processes such as respiration
depend upon molecules that fall within the realm of inorganic chemistry. The discipline
also includes the study of inorganic models or mimics that imitate the behaviour of
metalloproteins.
As a mix of biochemistry and inorganic chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry is
important in elucidating the implications of electron-transfer proteins, substrate bindings
and activation, atom and group transfer chemistry as well as metal properties in biological
chemistry.
Coordination chemistry
Coordination chemistry is the study of compounds formed between metal ions and
other neutral or negatively charged molecules such as [Co(NH2CH2CH2NH2)2ClNH3]2+
Cl22-. In this formulation, Co(NH2CH2CH2NH2)2ClNH3]2+ is known as a metal complex,
which is a charged species consisting of metal ion bonded to one or more groups of
molecules. The bonded molecules are called ligand. The little picture shown here depicts
a structure of a 6-coordinated complex.
[CoCl2(NH3)4]+
A common metal complex is Ag(NH3)2+, formed when Ag+ ions are mixed with
neutral ammonia molecules:
Ag+ + 2 NH3 -> Ag(NH3)2+
A complex Ag(S2O3)23- is formed between silver ions and negative thiosulfate ions:
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Ag+ + 2 S2O32- -> Ag(S2O3)23Coordination complexes are so pervasive that the structure and reactions are described
in many ways, sometimes confusingly. The atom within a ligand that is bonded to the
central atom or ion is called the donor atom. A typical complex is bound to several donor
atoms, which can be the same or different. Polydentate (multiple bonded) ligands consist
of several donor atoms, several of which are bound to the central atom or ion. These
complexes are called chelate complexes, the formation of such complexes is called
chelation, complexation, and coordination.
2. Homeworks
1) Relate briefly some sub-disiplines of inorganic chemistry that have not been
mentioned in the lecture.
2) Introduce some methods used for characterization of inorganic compounds.
3) Tell some theoreies of inorganic chemistry.
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