Introduction and properties of isolated atoms and ions

Introduction to transition metals
Properties of the elements
Periodic trends
Electron configurations: Rules
Electron configurations of first row transition metal atoms
Electron configurations of first row transition metal atoms
Oxidation states of Transition Metals
Common oxidation states

Coordination Compounds (Complex Ions): Names, Structures, Isomers

Introduction to coordination compounds
Types of ligands
Coordination numbers
Structures: tetrahedral, square-planar, octahedral
Naming coordination compounds
Examples of naming rules
Coordination and Linkage isomers
Geometrical isomers
More geometrical isomers
Intro to optical isomers
Optical isomers in octahedral complexes
Reflecting optical isomers
Exam question on optical isomers

Crystal Field Theory and applications: April 1-5

Basic Crystal Field Theory

Intro to Crystal Field Theory
Splitting of d orbitals in an octahedral field
Illustration of octahedral crystal field splitting
What determines the size of the splitting?
Octahedral vs. tetrahedral splitting patterns
Recap crystal field splitting

Colors and spectra

Colors and absorption spectra
Colors seen are complementary to colors absorbed
Some complexes are not colored
Sample exam question: infer relative splittings from colors

Magnetic properties

Currents and magnetic fields
Magnetic properties of coordination complexes
High spin and low spin complexes
Sample exam question: which complex is paramagnetic?

Coordination compounds in biology

Various porphyrins: Heme, chlorophyll, vitamin B-12
Why is blood red?