Chemistry 4414 Syllabus
Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory

"Welcome to inorganic lab. I look forward to an exciting and interesting semester. Feel free to let me know if there is anything I can do to assist you throughout the semester."

Time and Location:	Time Varies	Davidson 128
Instructor:	Prof. Karen J. Brewer	Phone: 231-6579
Office Hours:	Hahn 1105, e-mail:kbrewer@chemserver.chem.vt.edu	Open
Teaching Assistant:	Frank Cavadas, fcavadas@vt.edu, Hahn 2001	231-8246
Postdoctoral Associate:	Shawn Swavey, sswavey@chemserver.chem.vt.edu, Hahn 2009	231-4708
Text:	Microscale Inorganic Chemistry Z. Szafran, R. M. Pike, M. M. Singh, John Wiley & Sons, 1991 (Optional)	Available to Check Out in the Davidson Stockroom

Course Outline: : The objectives of this course are to give the student experience in the preparation and characterization of inorganic compounds. This will include special emphasis on the manipulation of air-sensitive compounds, the use of a variety of synthetic techniques and the application of characterizational techniques to inorganic systems. The students will perform six experiments and a special project. This laboratory is designed to allow the student to have input into the compounds they prepare and the methods they use for synthesis and characterization. This requires the student to prepare for the experiments prior to coming to the laboratory.

Grading: . Your grade will be determined by your performance in the laboratory, your laboratory reports, your oral presentation, and your poster presentations. Although you will work in pairs in the laboratory, your reports, oral presentation, and final poster presentation must be prepared individually. Your first poster presentation on our molecular modeling experiment will be a collaborative effort with your laboratory partner and can be prepared and presented jointly. Your full laboratory reports should take the form of a paper submitted for publication to Inorganic Chemistry and include copies of the pertinent pages from your laboratory notebook. Please refer to the Guide to Authors in the first issue of the year for Inorganic Chemistry for detailed instructions as to the preparation of a manuscript. This information can be obtained online from the ACS web server. This specific document is the guide to authors for Inorganic Chemistry. More details on the preparation of both short and full laboratory reports are contained in the laboratory manual. Your oral and poster presentations should take the form of an oral or poster presentation for an ACS meetings. Details on preparing scientific papers, oral presentations, and poster presentations can be obtained in The ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors. Copies of this can be checked out from the Davidson Stockroom. You are asked to prepare and characterize compounds, thus your performance will be based on achieving the desired compound and providing sufficient proof (characterization) that you have made the compound. The characterizational data will include: physical properties, spectral measurements (UV-VIS, IR, NMR, Mass Spectrum, Optical Rotation, etc.) and percentage yield. You will have two full laboratory reports, two short laboratory reports, one oral presentation, and two poster presentations. The poster for Experiment 3A will be a collaborative effort with your laboratory partner. The report for experiment 3B will be a full laboratory report and must be prepared individually. You may choose from among the other labs the remaining two short reports, one full report, and one oral report. The final poster presentation will be prepared from your special project. The reports should be turned in to Prof. Brewer for grading within one week of completion of the experiment. The first poster presentation on your molecular modeling results and predictions (Experiment 3A) will be held Wednesday Feb. 14, 2001 at 1:00 PM in Davidson 128. Each student must have completed at least one short laboratory report by 5 PM Monday, February 19, 2001. For the first short and the first full laboratory report, Prof. Brewer will give each student written comments and allow the student to rewrite the report prior to receiving a grade. You are encouraged to discuss these comments with Prof. Brewer. The rewrite is due one week after receiving the written comments. For subsequent reports, each student is allowed one rewrite and the grade on the rewrite will be averaged with the initial grade to give an overall grade for the experiment. These rewrites are due one week from receiving the graded report. No late rewrites will be accepted. Late laboratory reports will result in a 10% deduction for each week that they are late. No reports will be accepted after 5 PM Tuesday, May 1, 2001. The poster presentation for the molecular modeling experiment, experiment 3A, must be completed prior to starting the synthesis of your Mo complexes, experiment 3B. The oral report will be held in class during the week of March 19-21, 2000 (individual dates will be assigned). The final poster presentation will be held during your regular scheduled laboratory time on Wednesday, May 2, 2001. Each of the laboratory reports, the oral report, and poster presentation grades will be equally weighted in the final evaluation of your grade for the course. Please feel free to discuss the preparation of your laboratory reports and poster presentation with your laboratory GTA and Prof. Brewer. We are available to assist you in the completion of your experiments, reports and poster presentation.
Overall grades will be A:100-90%, B:89-80%, C:79-70%, D:69-60%, F: below 59% points.

Time Table: The time table for this laboratory dictates that you need to complete the indicated number of experiments from the laboratory manual during the first ten weeks of the semester, prior to March 30, 2001. You will then spend the final four weeks of the semester working on one of the special projects listed, beginning on April 2, 2001. Students should contact the Professor listed in the laboratory manual for the special project they select during the week of March 12, 2001 - March 16, 2001 in order to obtain background information to help them prepare for their special project. You will need to investigate the related literature and prepare a synthetic plan prior to April 2, 2001. This is a self-paced laboratory within the guidelines outlined above. Please make appropriate use of your time so as to allow completion of the assigned number of experiments within the given timeframe. You will need to provide your TA with a list of experiments you plan to perform and the order in which you would like to perform them. You also need to inform your TA one class period before you plan to begin a new experiment.

Honor Code: Participation in this laboratory constitutes an agreement to abide by the guidelines and regulations of the University Honor Code. Although students will work together in pairs in the laboratory, each student is expected to prepare his/her laboratory reports and final poster presentation individually. Your first poster presentation on our molecular modeling experiment will be a collaborative effort with your laboratory partner and can be prepared and presented jointly. Material that is obtained from textbooks, the literature, etc. must be properly cited.