Transition Metal Chemistry

Catalog description

Structure and bonding of compounds containing transition metals. CHEM 412 Transition Metal Chemistry (3) CHEM 412 covers the chemistry of the transition metals, and in particular the d-block elements. Major areas of emphasis include coordination chemistry, organometallics, and the role(s) of transition metals in biology. The course covers the following topics: molecular symmetry with applications to bonding and vibrational spectroscopy, coordination chemistry, structural and optical isomers, crystal and ligand field theories, electronic structure and electronic transitions, spectroscopic methods for probing transition metal complexes, kinetics and thermodynamics of ligand substitution reactions, oxidation-reduction reactions, organometallic complexes and their basic reaction types, homogeneous and heterogeneous organometallic catalysts and their reaction cycles, the interactions of metal ions with biological molecules, the function of transition metal ions in metalloproteins, and medically-important transition metal complexes.