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INTRODUCTION TO INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Prof. P.P. Edwards
Michaelmas Term - First Year
This 4-lecture course is intended to provide an introduction
to the first-year Inorganic Chemistry course. It will aim
(a) to revise some basic concepts needed for thinking about
Inorganic Chemistry; (b) to illustrate their uses (and limitations)
in a wider context than may have been covered at A-level;
and (c) while doing this, to illustrate some of the chemical
variety shown by the elements in the Periodic Table.
The main topics covered are:
1. Scope of Inorganic Chemistry (2 lectures).
- Introduction to what the subject is about, ranging from
the other branches of chemistry to biology, physics and
materials science. Compound and bonding types and associated
properties. Structural and dynamic aspects. Reaction types:
redox, exchange and acid-base reactions. Methods of synthesis.
2. The Nucleus (1 lecture).
- The beginning of things. Origin of the elements. Nuclear
properties and their chemical significance.
3. Electrons and the Periodic Table (2 lectures).
- Correlation between the electronic properties of atoms
and their classification in the Periodic Table: an overview
with some illustrations showing the varieties of chemistry
displayed. s-block, p-block, d-block and f-block elements.
Metals vs. non-metals.
4. Bond Types (1 lecture).
- Brief survey of how atoms interact. Broad classification
of ionic, covalent and metallic substances; coordination
compounds. Atomic properties relevant to bonding.
5. Ionic Systems and their Energetics (1 lecture).
- Use of a simple model - the Ionic Model - to calculate
lattice and solvation energies. The Born-Haber cycle; the
Born-Lande and Kapustinskii equations.
6. Covalent Bonding (1 lecture).
- Electron-pair bonding, Lewis structures and 'resonance'.
Octets, valence expansion and formal charges. The valence
shell-electron-pair-repulsion (VSEPR) model: its uses and
limitations.
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