CHEMISTRY 362 -- INORGANIC CHEMISTRY LABORATORY
This web site is under construction for the Fall 2024 version of this course. Please do not rely on any dates mentioned below until this caution has been removed.
CHEM 362 is a lab course that runs over one term for 1.5 credits. There is about 60 hours of work to complete spread over ~ 13 weeks.
The successful completion of Chem 260 (Synthetic Chemistry Laboratory) and Chem 225 (Intro Inorganic) are the pre-requisites for this course. Those who have successfully completed Chem 213 (Practical Spectroscopy) and Chem 222 (Intro Inorganic) will have also satisfied this requirement.
Quick Links:
| equity, diversity and inclusion | latest lab schedule | location of chemicals in Ell 331 |
| NMR data
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ChemDraw* download | technique tips | Molecular weight calculator |
log of emails to class |
* Before downloading Mercury or ChemDraw you might want to consider using these programs through the computing facilities in Clearihue (see further down for an explanation). This is a much easier route to take.
Chem Undergrad Noticeboard is here
Yellow Data Sheets for spectroscopy |
| Lab Course Co-ordinators | Dave Berry and Kelli Fawkes |
| Office | Elliott 334c (Dave) and 334e (Kelli) |
| Phone | 250 721 7170 |
| Dave's email is berryde@uvic.ca; Kelli's email is fawkesk@uvic.ca |
Please feel free to email either of us if you have a question.
General Information This course is a one-semester laboratory class for 1.5 credits. It is an independent course, but you may find that much of the content is related to that of Chemistry 324. The course will be conducted in-person.
TA Instructors What Chem 362 is all about You will have achieved a degree of independence in the laboratory: Use your instructor!! They are there to teach
and check things out when you need it. You will find that they are a useful supplement to the
written material provided. The manual is not intended to be your sole source of instructions. You will have used, appreciated and criticized the journal literature: You will have experienced ways in which to present your work in a professional manner: It is recommended that students dedicate 1-2 hrs per experiment to these tasks. Access to computing facilities in Clearihue
B01 Mon & Thurs 08:30 - 11:20
B02 Mon & Thurs 13:30 - 16:20
B03 Tues & Fri 13:30 - 16:20
Scope
The experiments in this course are designed to teach and practice the techniques of synthesis, purification and characterization by spectroscopy. In some cases, further study may be made on the physical or chemical properties of the products, including kinetics and catalysis.
The compounds to be prepared will include examples from the main group (metals and non-metals) and the transition metals, featuring coordination chemistry and organometallic chemistry that may include compounds that are air and/or moisture sensitive.
The material covered in the pre-requisite courses Chem260/225 or Chem 213/222 is an essential foundation.
Specifically for Chem 362, the learning outcomes are:
You will have developed and extended those techniques introduced at the second year level:
Obviously not all the techniques have been covered yet, but from previous
courses, you should be familiar with some basics. If this is not the case, make
sure you ask for help from the instructor.
The course is deliberately designed so that you work on independent
experiments in your own timeframe - but working towards established deadlines.
This encourages you to appropriately plan your daily schedule. The manual
deliberately contains less material than that for Chem 260. This again is to
encourage you to work more independently. Read the literature in advance
(particularly the safety material), discuss your plans with your lab instructor and write out
your game plan for the class.
Each experiment has a set of references which should be studied before starting
practical work. You will be required to know the published data and to present
comparisons with your own results.
You will be required to record the details of your experimental work in a manner
such that others can follow your work. You will also be required to present a
written or oral report. It is expected that you will be able to describe your
results in the context of the published information and to defend your
conclusions. If you wish to improve your writing skills in general, the Centre for Academic Communication is a free resource that I can recommend. Here is a brief article highlighting issues of plagiarism. Professional standards of behaviour will be promoted and expected by all students and instructors. Here is a link to the Student Code of Conduct.
Please be aware that the University restricts the use of software that edits or interprets any text other than for correcting spelling or grammatical errors. Permission is NOT GRANTED for you to use AI-enhanced software in this particular course, Chem 362.
Expectations
Each student will be scheduled for 60 hours of in-laboratory experience, carrying out 8 experiments.
All experiments require submission of a core set of tabulated data and spectra. Five experiments require an oral report and three experiments require a written report, involving a summary of the literature provided and/or discussion of the results in the context of the literature. Information about the content of reports is provided in the course notes. In advance of the first class, students are expected to recall relevant experience and knowledge from the pre-requisite courses.
In advance of each experiment, students must:
be knowledgeable of specific safety practices
be knowledgeable of starting materials,
review published literature provided,
review procedures to be followed and prepare a time management plan for the experiment
review relevant techniques as necessary.
During the lab classes, students will be assessed for their safe practices, in lab note taking, and their evaluation of data as it is obtained.
Lab reports will be evaluated for quality of data and discussion of background and results (see Course Notes). It is recommended that students dedicate 1-3 hrs to report writing or oral report preparation per experiment (depending on the experiment).
Off-line processing of data is always needed. This is mainly for NMR but also for viewing crystal structures using Mercury and for some, using ChemDraw. If you can download the programs to
your own laptop, that is usually the most flexible option. Check out the appendices in the lab manuals for more information.
We recognize that downloading is not always possible, or preferable, for a variety of reasons, so the university
computing services provides drop-in access in several locations on campus. These are limited but reservable.
Besides the above mentioned programs, the usual suite of Word, Excel etc will also be accessible
to you.
Duration of Course
Spring 2024 for all sections: Thurs 11th January to Tuesday 26th March for the laboratory work. Lab work may not be deferred beyond this date. Presentations will be on 4th and 5th April.
The last day for dropping this course with 100% fee reduction is 21st January. The last day for adding this course is 24th January and the last day for dropping without penalty of failure is 29th February. All dates are subject to change by the University Senate.
Special Considerations
Suitable accommodation will be provided for students with short
or long term limitations or special needs. Please ask the Senior Lab Instructor.
Here is the form for requesting academic concession
Evaluation
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Pre-lab assignments, assessment of lab skills and experiment preparation: |
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10% of total mark |
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90% of total mark |
The final course marks will be expressed as percentages, rounded to the nearest integer. Less than 50% is considered a failing grade. A minimum of 70% of the assigned work must be completed and graded. Please address any questions about grading to the SLI within two weeks of receipt. Errors or reviews will be handled promptly. Please note that the University policy is that a formal request for a third-party reassessment will overwrite any previous mark.
Late reports will carry a 25% penalty of the maximum mark for up to one week. After that, the report will not be accepted and a mark of 0 will be recorded. When a report has more than one component, the written portion must be submitted in time for the marker to read it before the oral component is given.