Notes on Inorganic Chemistry Course 445. Spring Semester
2009.
Textbooks: The recommended Textbook for the course is C. E. Housecroft and A. G.
Sharpe, “Inorganic Chemistry”, Prentice-Hall, 3rd Edition, 2008. (abbreviated ‘H&S’
below)
(The second edition of H&S is almost as good, although the first edition is not nearly as
good. You might get by with them if you have a copy of them for some reason).
Other useful reference books are
1) B. Douglas, D. H. McDaniel, and J. J. Alexander ‘Concepts and Models of
Inorganic Chemistry’ 3rd Edition, Wiley, 1994.
2) J. E. Huheey, E. A. Keiter and R. L. Keiter, “Inorganic Chemistry”, 4th Edition,
Harper-Collins, 1993.
3) F. A. Cotton and G. Wilkinson, ‘Advanced Inorganic Chemistry’ 5th or 6th Edn.,
Wiley, 1988 or 1999.
4) N. N. Greenwood and A. Earnshaw, “Chemistry of the Elements’, Pergamon, 2nd
Edition 1997.
Course Material. The course is presented on-line in the form of power-point lectures
that include voice-overs. The lectures follow the text-book quite closely, but the ultimate
indication of what material is covered is the lectures.
Grading. There will be three exams during the semester, each counting 20%. There will
be four quizzes during the semester covering the four blocks of material covered in the
four exams, counting a total of 10%. The final will count 30%, and cover all the material
in the course, including further material not covered in the three semester exams, and
there will be replacement grades for the semester exams. This means that the final will
repeat all the material covered in the three exams held during the semester, and if one
improves one’s grade over that obtained during the semester, the grade on the final will
replace that obtained in the semester.
Course Content:
The course will cover the following topics: (all references are to H&S 3rd Edition,
page numbers in parentheses refer to 2nd edition. The lecture numbers correspond
to the power point presentations available on-line.)
.
1
EXAM 1 covers lectures 1-8
Basic principles:
Bonding Models: (Chapter 2).
Lecture 1.
1) Atomic orbitals p 9-25 (revision of general chemistry)
2) The octet rule. p 40-41 (36-37).
Lecture 2.
3) The VSEPR Model p. 48- 55 (43-48)
Lecture 3.
4) Molecular Orbital Theory p. 33-40 (29-36)
Lecture 4.
5) MO Theory for heteronuclear diatomic molecules, p. 46-48 (41-42).
Lecture 5.
6) Electronegativity, p. 42-44 (36-39)
Lecture 6.
7) Coordination complexes, isomerism p 54-55 (48-49).
Molecular Symmetry. (Chapter 4)
Lecture 7.
8) Symmetry operations, p. 88-94 (79-84).
Lecture 8.
9) Point Groups. p 94-99 (84-89).
EXAM 2 covers lectures 9-14
Acids and Bases in Aqueous Solution. (Chapter 7)
Lecture 9.
15) Properties of water. p 181-185 (162-166)
16) Bronsted Acids and Bases. p 185-197 (166-171)
Lecture 10.
17) Aquated cations as acids p. 191-192 (171-173).
Lecture 11.
18) Amphoteric behavior 193 (173-174)
19) Solubility Products. p. 193-197 (174-175)
20) Coordination Complexes p 198-206 (178-186).
Chapter 12.
21) Hard and Soft Acids and Bases. p 206-208 (186-188).
2
Chemistry of the Main-Group Elements:
Lecture 13.
The role of oxidation state, ionic radius and electronegativity in producing
chemical properties. Relativistic effects (p. 331 (298)). The effect of the inert pair
(p. 332 (299)).
Lecture 14.
Hydrogen. (Chapter 10)
22) The proton. p. 261-262 (236-237).
23) The Hydrogen Bond. p. 270-278 (244-250).
24) The hydride anion p. p 278-281
The Alkali Metals. (Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs) (Chapter 11)
25) General. p. 286 (257). Oxides and hydroxides p. 292-294 (264-265)
26) Aqueous solution Chemistry p. 297-301 (267-271) (crown ethers, cryptands)
The Alkali-Earth Metals. (Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba) (Chapter 12).
27) General. p 309 (275). Oxides and hydroxides p. 314 (285).
28) Aqueous chemistry p. 318-321 (287-288) (crown ethers, cryptands)
The Group 13 Elements. (B, Al, Ga, In, Tl). (Chapter 13).
29) Coordination complexes of the M3+ ions p.343-344,359 (323-324)
30) The Inert pair and Relativistic Effects. Tl(I), p 345-347 (311-313)
31) Boron Hydrides p 334-340 (301-307)
The Group 14 Elements. (C, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb). (Chapter 14).
32) General. p. 376.
33) Allotropes of carbon: Fullerenes. p 387-390 (345-353).
34) The Chemistry of Sn(II) and Pb(II). p 428 (381).
Read on your own - not covered in lectures, but interesting and helps with
VSEPR:
The Group 18 Elements: (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe). (Chapter 18).
35) Compounds of the Inert Gases. p 565-572 (496-501).
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EXAM 3 covers Lectures 15-19.
The d-block Elements.
Lecture 15.
General Considerations. (Chapter 20).
36) Electronic configurations. p 611-612 (535-536)
37) Characteristic properties: Paramagnetism, Complex-formation, Oxidation
states p 614-619 (538-539)
38) Coordination numbers p 619-627 (541-547).
39) Isomerism. p 627-633 (547-552)
Lecture 16.
Coordination complexes. (Chapter 21).
40) High and Low-spin states p 637 (555).
41) Crystal Field Theory. p. 640-642 (557-560)
42) Crystal Field Stabilization Energy p. 642-644 (560-561)
43) Thermodynamic aspects of CFSE p. 680-682 (585-589)
Lecture 17.
44) Jahn-Teller Distortion p 644 (561-562)
45) The Tetrahedral Crystal Field p 645 (562).
46) Square planar Complexes p 646 (562)
Lecture 18.
47) Ligand Field Theory p 654. (570-571)
48) Selection rules. p 662 (571).
49) Electronic spectra p 660-665 (574-577)
Lecture 19.
50) The nephelauxetic effect p 669 (578-579)
51) Magnetic properties p 670-674 (579-581)
.
Lectures 20-22. Covered on the final Exam.
Organometallic Compounds. Chapter 24.
Lecture 20.
52) Ligand Hapticity p 806 (700)
53) Types of organometallic ligand p. 806 (700)
54) The 18-electron rule p 815-816 (707-709)
55) Carbonyl ligands p 807-808 (701-702)
56) Hydride ligands p 808-809 (702)
57) Phosphines p 809-810 (703)
58) Metal carbonyls p 816-821 (709-714)
Lecture 21.
59) π-bonded organic ligands p 811-813 (704)
60) Oxidative addition p 828 (719)
61) Alkyl migrations p 828 (720)
62) Complexes of aromatic ligands p 841-849 (730-737)
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