Stereoisomerism in coordination chemistry: A laboratory experiment for undergraduate students

Abstract

This experiment makes students become acquainted with stereochemical concepts and several techniques used in this field and incorporate in the learning some of the recent research tasks.

The Trans Effect: A Guided-Inquiry Experiment for Upper-Division Inorganic Chemistry

“…Few guided-inquiry laboratories for upper-division inorganic chemistry exist in the literature, with the focus instead being on traditional experiments in which students are directed to follow a procedure, and the results verify concepts already presented (1-3). While traditional experiments dealing with isomers of coordination complexes are plentiful in this Journal (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19), we describe a guided-inquiry laboratory in which students synthesize the cis and trans isomers of a square-planar platinum(II) complex and are guided to develop the trans effect concept. The cis isomer, cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II), cis-Pt(NH 3 ) 2 Cl 2 or cisplatin, is a chemotherapeutic that is used to treat a variety of cancers (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26).…”

Coordination complexes of cobalt: Inorganic synthesis in the general chemistry laboratory

“…More recently, Alexander and Dorsey (3) and Loehlin et al (4) described freshman laboratory projects in which Co(III) complexes are prepared and studied. There have also been reports on the synthesis of optically active Co(III) complexes (5,6), and there are brief descriptions of the syntheses of [Co(NH3)5C1]C12 (7), [Co{en)2Cl2]Cl (8), and [Co(en)3]3 (9). One paper concerns a number of metal acetylacetonate complexes (10), and experiments concerning Ni (11,12), Fe (13,14), and Cu (15,16) have appeared.…”