Lecture #10, Wednesday, October 13th

As you may have noticed, the transition metal unit is much less mathematical and much more concept/theory based than the solubility unit. To better prepare you for this, be sure to read sections 24.1 - 25.5 of the text book.

Section 24.4 covers isomers, so pay particular attention to Figure 24.17 and know how to differentiate between a structural and geometric isomer and be able to identify coordination-sphere, linkage, geometric, and optical isomers. Sample Exercise 24.6 on page 1029 also gives a pictorial example of optical isomer, so be sure to look that over.

Section 25.5 discusses color. Be sure to look at Figure 24.24 and Figure 24.26 on pages 1032-1033. These figures highlight what was emphasized in class regarding how chemists interpret color of transition metal complexes.

We are finally at the point where we can discuss the reasons we observe different colors in transition metal complexes, and it all boils down to the bonding in transition metal complexes.

On Friday, we will discuss molecular orbital theory in pretty great detail. It would be highly beneficial for you to review the shapes of the orbitals before you come to class. Bonds are formed when atomic orbitals overlap. If you do not know the shapes of the atomic orbitals like the back of your hand then you will not be able to visualize how they interact or overlap.

There is an excellent tutorial that can be found on the OSU department of Chemistry web-site highlighting the shapes of the atomic orbitals.

Pay particular attention to the shapes of the d_xy, d_xz, d_yz, d_x2-y2, and d_z2 as they will be a focal point of Friday's lecture.

When you view these orbital pictures pay special attention to how the orbitals are oriented in 3-Dimensional space. I mentioned that d orbitals have different energies resulting in fascinating physical properties. The reason the energies are different is due to how the orbitals interact with the ligands. In an octahedral molecule all six ligands fall directly along the cartesian axis, so they will form stronger interactions with orbitals orienting themselves along the x, y, and z axis. We will discuss this further on Friday.

If you want to get ahead read the Orbitals, Bonding, MO Diagrams, and Color "Book Chapter" post under the Content -- Lecture Material section on Carmen.

I also mentioned in class that the report questions for the Qualitative Analysis lab will be due October 21st at 10:00 pm.


Inspirational Quote:
14 (The number of days until the first midterm)

Songs Played Before Class:
Eddie Money : Take Me Home Tonight
Uncle Cracker: Smile
The artist formerly known as Prince: Raspberry Beret