ERIC Number: EJ1442147
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-May
Pages: 4
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: EISSN-1938-1328
A Complex Molecular Symmetry Analysis of Silsesquioxane Catalysts for Inorganic Students
Journal of Chemical Education, v99 n5 p2204-2207 2022
Teaching symmetry point groups to introductory inorganic chemistry students is often complicated by the difficulties students face with mental manipulation of complex molecules. Additionally, most textbooks provide practice in the form of random two-dimensional molecules or figures of little significance. As an alternative, an assignment is proposed that analyzes the symmetry of borylated cubic silsesquioxane-based catalysts, which can be modeled as simple cubes with differing vertices that depend on boron loading. This assignment challenges students to explore how adding substituents to a highly symmetric molecule affects the symmetry of the molecule and gives rise to spectroscopically equivalent positions.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A