Chem 151A: Inorganic Chemistry

Spring 2009

 

 


Announcements (always refresh your browser!)

3/26/09: First lecture for 151A will be on Monday 3/30/09. For 151L, both lecture and lab will not be until Week 2.
4/10/09: Old exams placed online including last year's. Answers to practice problems and other useful info uploaded to Handouts page.
4/11/09: Problem Set 1 now online, due by Friday 4/17/09 at 5pm.
5/1/09: Happy May Day! Solutions to Exam 1, Ch.3 and Ch.12 now online. PS2 now online, due Monday May 11th.

5/13/09: PS2 and Ch. 11 solutions now online (and Double J's song, clearly meant to induce boos).
5/26/09: PS3 now online, due Wednesday 6/3/09 at 5pm.

 

 

Instructor Scott Oliver
Office: PSB 258; soliver@chemistry.ucsc.edu; 831-459-5448

Classes M/W/F, 11 am to 12:10 pm in Nat. Sci. Annex 101. The two midterm exams will be held during class.
Office Hours M/W, 4 to 5 pm, PSB 258. E-mail works well. Other times can be arranged with the instructor.

TAs Nicole Fry Honghan Fei
nfry@chemistry.ucsc.edu fei@chemistry.ucsc.edu
Office Hours: TBA Office Hours: TBA

Discussion T, 6 to 7:10 pm or 7:30 to 8:40 pm, Baskin Engineering 165.

Text J. E. Huheey, E. A. Keiter & R. L. Keiter, Inorganic Chemistry: Principles of Structure and Reactivity, 4th ed.; HarperCollins College Publishers: New York, 1993 (QD151.2 .H84 1993).

Supplementary Texts (all placed on 1-day reserve in Science & Engineering Library)
J. E. Huheey, E. A. Keiter & R. L. Keiter, Inorganic Chemistry: Principles of Structure and Reactivity, 4th ed.; HarperCollins College Publishers: New York, 1993 (QD151.2 .H84 1993).
Gary L. Miessler & Donald A. Tarr, Inorganic Chemistry, 3rd ed.; Prentice Hall/Pearson Education: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2004 (QD151.3 .M54 2004).
D. F. Shriver & P. W. Atkins, Inorganic Chemistry, 3rd ed.; W. H. Freeman and Co.: New York, 1999 (QD151.5 .S57 1999).
Catherine E. Housecroft & Alan G. Sharpe, Inorganic Chemistry, 2nd ed.; Prentice Hall/Pearson Education: Essex, UK, 2005 (QD151.3 .H68 2005).
F. A. Cotton, G. Wilkinson & P. L. Gaus, Basic Inorganic Chemistry, 3rd ed.; Wiley & Sons: New York, 1995 (QD151.2 .C69 1995).

Grading 2 Midterm Exams: 50% in total
3 Assignments: 20% in total
Final exam: 30%

Exams Each midterm exam emphasizes the topics covered in the preceding weeks, encompassing the corresponding lectures, chapters of the text and problem sets. The final exam will be cumulative but contains choice (e.g. answer 6 out of 9 questions). All exams closed-book and no calculators.
Exam 1: Wednesday, April 22nd, during lecture
Exam 2: Friday, May 15th, during lecture
Final Exam: Tuesday, June 9th, 4 to 7 pm, location TBA

Assignments There will be 3 homework assignments during the quarter and will consist of 8 problems or so each. They are designed to help you comprehend the lecture material, get feedback on problem solving and in particular prepare for the exams. Practice problems will also be given at the end of each chapter but will not be collected. Note that these problems could appear on the exams, but not necessarily.

Lecture Notes The course is self-contained: all notes are written on the blackboard and the exams are based mostly on the lecture notes. Please ask questions or I'll just keep going! Any additional material will be placed on the course web site.


Tentative Lecture Topics and Reading
Assignments From Huheey, 4th ed.


What Is Inorganic Chemistry Ch. 1 (Intro)
The Structure of the Atom Ch. 2 (Review)

Bonding Models in Inorganic Chemistry Ch. 4, 5
The Structure and Reactivity of Molecules Ch. 6

Chemical Forces Ch. 8
Acid-Base Chemistry Ch. 9
Chemistry in Aqueous and Nonaqueous Solvents Ch. 10
Coordination Chemistry: Bonding, Spectra and Magnetism Ch. 11
Reactions, Kinetics and Mechanisms Ch. 13
Organometallic Chemistry Ch. 15
Bioinorganic Chemistry (Chem 234) Ch. 19

Ch. 12, 14 and 17, see: F. Albert Cotton Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, 6th Ed.

Symmetry and Group Theory (Chem 151B) Ch. 3
Solid State and Materials Chemistry (Chem 151B, 156C/256C) Ch. 7
Inorganic Polymers, Cluster Chemistry (Chem 151B) Ch. 16