Advanced Main Group Chemistry

Catalog description

Welcome to Advanced Main Group chemistry! There are two fundamental major goals in this course. ? First, we will take an in-depth look at the structure and bonding of main group complexes, and how this influences the reactivity of the resultant complexes reactivity. We will examine small molecules, clusters, nanomaterials and surfaces across the periodic table, and survey the more common ligands used to stabilize otherwise reactive chemical fragments. Next, we will examine how these structural features dictate what substrates the complexes will be reactive towards, and how the complexes can be tuned to specific reactivities. We will also discuss how these complexes can be characterized, including Infrared and UV spectroscopy, multinuclear NMR and X-ray crystallography. Finally, we will examine the role of main group complexes in catalytic processes, and include real-world industrial examples. ? The second goal of this course is to hone your skills at evaluating, writing about, and presenting complex chemical concepts in inorganic and main group chemistry. We will regularly choose and discuss publications from the ASAP literature, and relate these to topics covered in class. All class members will be required to participate and provide examples of these papers at set points throughout the term. Students taking this course should have at minimum successfully completed Organic Chemistry I and II.