CHEMISTRY 362 -- INORGANIC CHEMISTRY LABORATORY
This web site is
under construction for the fall 2025 version of the course. Please do not rely
on any information until this warning 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:
|
NMR data |
Crystallographic
Data Program* |
|
*
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 |
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Lab
Course Co-ordinators
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Dave Berry
and Kelli Fawkes |
|
Office |
Elliott
334c (Dave) and 334e (Kelli) |
|
Phone |
250 721
7170 |
|
Email |
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
B01 Mon & Thurs 08:30 - 11:20 closed
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.
What Chem 362 is all about
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.
You will have achieved a
degree of independence in the laboratory:
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.
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:
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 have
experienced ways in which to present your work in a professional manner:
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 for writing
purposes 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.
It is recommended that
students dedicate 1-2 hrs per experiment to these
tasks.
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).
Access to
computing facilities in Clearihue
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
Fall 2025 for all
sections: Thursday 4th September to Tuesday 25th November for the laboratory
work. Lab work may not be deferred beyond this date. Final presentations will
be on 1st & 2nd December.
The last day for dropping this course with 100% fee reduction is 16th
September. The last day for adding this course is 19th September and the last
day for dropping without penalty of failure is 31st October. All dates are
subject to change by the University Senate.
Location of Lab
This course takes place in a laboratory on the third floor
of the Elliott building (Ell 331) at the University of Victoria.
We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən
(Songhees and Xʷsepsəm/Esquimalt)
Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən
and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the
land continue to this day.
Material
Needs
The Chem 362 Lab Manual will be
sold in print form at the Bookstore. An on-line version is also
available. Safety glasses must be worn by everyone, even if prescription
glasses are also worn. They are available from the Bookstore. Lab coats, long
pants and shoes that fully cover the foot are required.
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 information for requesting academic concession
Evaluation
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Pre-lab assignments, assessment of lab skills and
experiment preparation: |
= |
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.