Syllabus - CHE 411 / CHE 5411 - Advanced Inorganic Chemistry
Spring Semester, 2014
Class: MCC 402
3 semester hours credit
TR 9:25 - 10:40 AM
Professor: David H. Magers, Ph.D.
Office: Hederman Science Building, Room 418-B
Research Lab: Hederman Science Building, Room 418-A
Phone: (601) 925-3851
e-mail: magers@mc.edu
Instructional Materials:
The required text is Inorganic Chemistry 5th Edition by Gary L. Miessler and Donald A. Tarr.
A suggested accompanying text is A Guide to Modern Inorganic Chemistry by Steven M.
Owen and Alan T. Brooker. In addition to this text you will need a scientific calculator.
Many of the class notes will be distributed.
Prerequisites: CHE 211, CHE 317, and CHE 318. The latter may be taken as a
co-requisite. In addition to these specific prerequisites, students enrolled in CHE 5411 must
have previously completed at least eighteen hours of chemistry.
Disclaimer: Although I expect to conduct the course according to the following, I reserve
the right to make modifications if circumstances dictate.
Course Description: A study of modern inorganic chemistry with emphasis on the
principles and trends in the chemistry of the elements and on the essentials of structure,
bonding, and reactivity of inorganic systems
Rationale: If organic chemistry is defined as the chemistry of hydrocarbon compounds
and their derivatives, inorganic chemistry can be described broadly as the chemistry of
“everything else.” Many students recognize the importance of organic chemistry because of
its relationship to biochemistry, but inorganic chemistry also plays important roles in today’s
world. From organometallic chemistry which bridges the gap between organic and
inorganic chemistry to semiconductors involved in computer and information technology,
inorganic chemistry continues to be a large, important, and rapidly growing field in which all
students of chemistry should be knowledgeable.
Attendance: Your attendance at all class meetings is expected. Please refer to the
Mississippi College Undergraduate Bulletin or to the Mississippi College Graduate Catalog
for a discussion of the university’s attendance policy. If a regular class meeting is missed, it
is the student’s responsibility to obtain any assignments or instructions that were given by
the instructor. Missing a class is not an excuse for not preparing for the next class meeting
or not having an assignment ready on time. Don’t miss a scheduled test! In the event of an
extreme emergency and an excused absence, a make-up test will be given. The test must
be made up prior to the graded tests being returned to the class. Make-up tests are usually
different from the regular test and may be more difficult. If the student cannot return to
class until after the tests have been returned, the grade on the final exam may be
substituted for the missing grade.
Methods of Instruction: Class will consist primarily of lectures and working problems.
Students enrolled in CHE 5411 will be required to submit PowerPoint presentations with
voiceover explanantions included on specifixc assigned topics.
Required Practices: You are expected to read the appropriate sections of your text
and work any problems assigned before coming to class. Finally, as previously
mentioned, all students will need a good scientific calculator and be fairly proficient
with it.
Grading: Three tests will be given during the semester, each with a value of 100 points.
Unannounced pop tests are given periodically. The total number of pop test points and
points from homework assignments will be approximately 25 points for undergraduates and
approximately 75 points for graduate students. Pop tests that are missed are not made up.
The final exam is comprehensive and is worth 150 to 200 points. Your overall grade is
determined by dividing your grand total by the total possible points. Occasionally there are
opportunities for extra credit points by attending a special seminar or a visiting lecture.
CHE 411: Final letter grades are determined on a 10-point scale. Please refer to
the Mississippi College Undergraduate Bulletin for a discussion of the university’s grading
system and how quality points are assigned.
CHE 5411: Approximately 50 points of the 75 points which come from pop tests and
homework assignments are associated with the Powerpoint presentations mentioned
above. Final letter grades are determined on the following scale:
90 -100 % = A
68 - 74 = C+
45 - 54 = D
84 - 89 % = B+
55 - 67 = C
below 45 = F
75 - 83 % = B
Please refer to the Mississippi College Graduate Catalog for a discussion of the university’s
graduate grading system and how grade points are assigned.
Academic integrity: Mississippi College students are expected to be honest. Please
refer to the Mississippi College Undergraduate Bulletin or to the Mississippi College
Graduate Catalog for a discussion of plagiarism and cheating. Also refer to the Mississippi
College Tomahawk or to University Policy 2.19.
Course Overview: The course covers material presented in chapters 1-7, chapter 9, and
chapters 11-16 of the textbook. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to inorganic chemistry.
Chapter 2 covers atomic structure and trends in the periodic chart. Chapters 4-6 cover
bonding theories while chapter 3 presents symmetry and group theory. Acid-base
chemistry is covered in chapter 9, and an introduction to solid-state chemistry is presented
in chapter 7. Some descriptive chemistry is covered in chapter 14, and coordination
chemistry is covered in chapters 11-13. Chapter 15 presents an introduction to
organometallic chemistry and inorganic chains, rings, cages, and clusters are discussed in
chapter 16.
Student Assistance:
A. Early Alert System
Mississippi College has adopted the practice of finding students early in the
semester who may be exhibiting behaviors that could ultimately have a negative
impact on their academic progress. These behaviors are often called “red flag”
behaviors and include, but are not limited to, excessive absences, poor test grades,
and lack of class participation or evidence of non-engagement. Identifying these
behaviors early gives the instructor the opportunity to raise the “red flag” on behalf of
a particular student so that the student can take the appropriate action to redirect
his/her progress. The system alerts the student, the student’s advisor, and the Office
of Student Success.
These messages are intended to help a student recognize an area of concern and to
encourage him/her to make some choices to improve the situation. When a student
receives an Early Alert message, the student should quickly make an appointment to
talk with his/her professor about the situation. Also, students can make full use of
the Office of Student Success to set academic goals and connect to campus
resources.
.
B. Students with Disabilities
In order for a student to receive disability accommodations under Section 504 of the
Americans with Disabilities Act, he or she must schedule an individual meeting with
the Director of Student Counseling Services (SCS) immediately upon recognition
of their disability (if their disability is known they must come in before the semester
begins or make an appointment immediately upon receipt of their syllabi for the new
semester). The student must bring with them written documentation from a medical
physician and/or licensed clinician that verifies their disability. If the student has
received prior accommodations, they must bring written documentation of those
accommodations (example: Individualized Education Plan from the school
system). Documentation must be current (within 3 years).
The student must meet with SCS face-to face and also attend two (2) additional
follow up meetings (one mid semester before or after midterm examinations and the
last one at the end of the semester). Please note that the student may also schedule
additional meetings as needed for support through SCS as they work with their
professor throughout the semester. Note: Students must come in each semester to
complete their Individualized Accommodation Plan (example: MC student completes
fall semester IAP plan and even if student is a continuing student for the spring
semester they must come in again to complete their spring semester IAP plan).
Student Counseling Services is located on the 4th floor of Alumni Hall) or they may be
contacted via email at mbryant@mc.edu . You may also reach them by phone at 601-9257790. Dr. Morgan Bryant is director of MC Student Counseling Services.
Course Outline:
I. Introduction to Inorganic Chemistry
II. Nucleogenesis
A. Cosmic distribution
B. Terrestrial distribution
III. Atomic Structure
A. Review of the hydrogen atom and its wavefunctions
B. Polyatomic atoms
1. Electron spin and the Pauli Exclusion Principle
2. Aufbau Principle
3. Electronic configurations and the Periodic Chart
4. Atomic term symbols and Hund's Rules
IV. The Periodic Chart and Periodic Trends
A. Shielding and Slater's Rules
B. Atomic size
C. Ionization potentials
D. Electron Affinity
E. Electronegativity
F. Isotopes of Hydrogen
G. Oddo-Harkins Rule
H. Lanthanides
1. Abundance
2. Oxidation state
3. Promethium and the Mattauch isobar rule
V. Symmetry and Group Theory
A. Symmetry elements
B. Schoenflies point groups
C. Irreducible representations and character tables
D. Uses of symmetry
1. Wavefunction classification
2. Optical activity
3. Dipole moments
4. Spectroscopic selection rules
VI. Bonding Models
A. Ionic compounds
1. Crystal systems
2. Structures of crystal lattices
3. Lattice energy and the Born-Haber Cycle
4. Atomic size revisited - ionic radii
B. Covalent compounds
1. Valence bond theory
a. Lewis structures
(1) resonance
(2) formal charges
b. Hybridization
c. VSEPR theory
2. Molecular orbital theory
a. Linear combination of atomic orbitals
(1) delocalization
(2) antibonding orbitals
b. Symmetry and overlap
c. Homonuclear diatomic molecules
d. Heteronuclear diatomic molecules
e. Bond order and bond strength
f. Polyatomic molecules
(1) B2H6
(2) SF6
(3) O3
VII. Complex Ions and Coordination Compounds
A. Nomenclature
B. Theories of bonding
1. Valence bond theory
2. Crystal field theory
3. Ligand Field theory
VIII. Solid State
A. Band Theory
B. Metals
C. Alloys
D. Semiconductors
1. Intrinsic
2 Extrinsic
a. p-type
b. n-type
E. Superconductors
1. Low temperature
2. High temperature
IX. Nuclear Isomers of Hydrogen
X. Acid-Base Chemistry
A. Oxoacids
B. Acid Halides
XI. Environmental Chemistry
A. The Greenhouse Effect
B. Ozone and the Ozone Hole
C. Acid Rain
XII. Organometallic Chemistry
A. The 18-electron rule
B. Nomenclature
XIII. Interesting Inorganic Structures
A. Chains
B. Rings
C. General cages
D. Boron Cage Compounds
E. Metal Clusters
Learning Objectives:
(This is not an exhaustive list.)
1) Learn the theory of nucleogenesis, what nuclear reactions take place in the stars, why
different stars have different colors, why iron is the end product of stellar fusion, and how
elements heavier than iron are formed.
2) Learn the cosmic and terrestrial distributions of the elements and understand why they
are different.
3) Learn the different parts of the hydrogenic wavefunctions and how nodes relate to
relative energies.
4) Learn that electron spin is actually intrinsic angular momentum.
5) Learn how to determine atomic term symbols from a given electronic configuration and
how to use Hund’s Rules to predict the electronic ground state.
6) Learn how to explain trends in the periodic chart and how to rationalize exceptions to
these periodic trends.
7) Learn what the Oddo-Harkins rule is.
8) Learn what the Lanthanide contraction is and the results of it.
9) Learn what the Mattauch isobar rule is and how it applies to promethium.
10) Learn how to assign molecules and geometrical objects to their proper symmetry point
group.
11) Learn how to use symmetry to determine if a molecule is polar or not.
12) Learn how to use symmetry to determine if a molecule is chiral or achiral.
13) Learn how to assign wavefunctions and motions of molecules to the proper irreducible
representations of the point groups to which the molecules belong.
14) Learn how to compute direct products of irreducible representations and how these
direct products may be used to determine spectroscopic selection rules..
15) Learn the seven crystal systems and the fourteen different Bravais lattices.
16) Learn some of the differences and similarities of valence bond theory and molecular
orbital theory.
17) Learn how to draw Lewis structures, including those for some open-shell systems.
18) Learn how to use formal charges to predict the relative weight of different canonical
structures to the resonance hybrid.
19) Learn that hybridization does not predict geometry, but rather geometry predicts
hybridization.
20) Learn how to predict molecular geometries using VSEPR theory.
21) Learn how molecular orbitals are constructed from the linear combination of atomic
orbitals.
22) Learn about nonbonding, antibonding, and virtual molecular orbitals.
23) Learn how to compute the bond order in a molecule from the molecular orbital energy
diagram.
24) Learn how molecular orbital theory handles hypervalency and electron-deficient
molecules.
25) Learn how to name complex Ions and coordination compounds.
26) Learn the strengths and weaknesses of valence bond theory, crystal field theory, and
molecular orbital theory in describing the bonding in and color of coordination compounds
and complex ions.
27) Learn how molecular orbital theory can explain why metal carbonyls are often colorless
while a complex like [CoF6]3- is brightly colored, but why pi-bonding must be considered.
28) Learn how band theory can explain bonding in metals and semiconductors.
29) Learn the composition of some common alloys.
30) Learn the difference between substitutional and interstitial alloys.
31) Learn the differences and similarities between insulators and intrinsic semiconductors.
32) Learn the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors.
33) Learn the difference between n-type and p-type extrinsic semiconductors.
34) Learn the difference between low-temperature and high-temperature superconductors.
35) Learn about the different isotopes of hydrogen.
36) Learn about the different nuclear spin isomers of molecular hydrogen.
37) Learn the different models of acids and bases.
38) Learn how the acidity of binary hydrogen compounds vary.
39) Learn how to determine the relative strengths of oxoacids.
40) Learn what causes the ozone hole.
41) Learn the major sources of acid rain.
42) Learn what causes the “Greenhouse Effect.”