Chemical Sciences

ANTONELLA CARTONI

The Inorganic Chemistry I course aims to provide fundamental knowledge and basic principles for the study of Chemical Sciences, highlighting the correlations between chemical structure and properties of the molecules. The main objective of the course is to provide the tools to understand the chemical bond, in particular the covalent chemical bond, ionic, metallic, coordination and the main intermolecular interactions. The frontal lessons are developed starting from the structure of the atom, arriving at the study of the formation of the molecules allowing the student to acquire skills in the understanding of the chemical bond. A further objective is to supply a wide survey, based on the analysis of the most important compounds formed by the elements of the periodic table groups, in order to support the knowledge of the chemical bond developed in the first portion of the course.

Expected learning outcomes:
1) Knowledge and ability to understand
The knowledge and skills acquired in this teaching will constitute a framework for the subsequent study.
Students who have passed the exam will be able to know and understand (acquired knowledge):
i) the atomic structure, and in particular the meaning of atomic orbitals.
ii) the main models for the interpretation of covalent, ionic, metallic and coordination chemical bonds.
iii) intermolecular interactions and basic models for solid state interpretation;
2) Applied Knowledge and understanding skills
Students will be able to understand the binding models in coordination compounds and advanced topics related to the study of the systematic and reactivity of the elements and main compounds of the block s and p.

The Inorganic Chemistry I course aims to provide fundamental knowledge and basic principles for the study of Chemical Sciences, highlighting the correlations between chemical structure and properties of the molecules. The main objective of the course is to provide the tools to understand the chemical bond, in particular the covalent chemical bond, ionic, metallic, coordination and the main intermolecular interactions. The frontal lessons are developed starting from the structure of the atom, arriving at the study of the formation of the molecules allowing the student to acquire skills in the understanding of the chemical bond.

Expected learning outcomes:
1) Knowledge and ability to understand
The knowledge and skills acquired in this teaching will constitute a framework for the subsequent study.
Students who have passed the exam will be able to know and understand (acquired knowledge):
i) the atomic structure, and in particular the meaning of atomic orbitals.
ii) the main models for the interpretation of covalent, ionic, metallic and coordination chemical bonds.
iii) intermolecular interactions and basic models for solid state interpretation;

2) Applied Knowledge and understanding skills
Students will be able to understand the binding models in coordination compounds and advanced topics related to the study of the systematic and reactivity of the elements and main compounds of the block s and p.

3) Autonomy of Judgment
Students who have passed the exam will be able to (skills and skills acquired) to interpret the chemical bond and critically interpret the structure of the and the reactivity of chemical compounds and to understand and correlate the properties of molecules with the molecular structure. Moreover, they will understand the connection with the other cultural areas of Chemistry in particular the aspects of physical chemistry, organic chemistry and analytical chemistry.

4) Communication Skills
Students will develop the ability to communicate what has been learned, through oral examination tests.

5) Learning Ability
Students will have the ability to develop independent study through the indication of accessible sources of updating.

This course is in the Bachelor Degree of Chemistry, in the first year, second semester and it is included in the basic courses. Some basic preliminary knowledge are indispensable, in particular those deriving from the General and Inorganic Chemistry course, for which the prerequisites are required (first semester course of the first year) such as the ability to write and balance chemical reactions, basic nomenclature, definition of acids and bases, redox reactions, laws of thermodynamics. Furthermore, the basic skills of mathematical analysis, which are acquired during the first year of the first semester, are useful and important.

Content of the course
The course includes 6 CFU of frontal teaching, divided into four general topics: atomic structure (8 h), covalent chemical bond, ionic, metallic (16 h), chemical bond in coordination complexes (8 h), study of systematic elements of the periodic table, with particular attention to the block if block p (16 h).


General description: Basic course in which the chemical bond is treated. In general, the course includes: concepts and applications of chemical bonding for simple molecules and for coordination compounds, by illustrating the main models for the interpretation of the link. Covalent bond (VSEPR methods, valence bond VB, molecular orbitals MO), ionic, metallic. Hydrogen bond and weak interactions. Introduction to coordination compounds VB theory, crystalline field theory, MO theory. Systematic treatment of the main elements of block s and block p, according to their location in the periodic table.


Detailed program of the course: in the following section the program with the relative articulation over time is illustrated in detail. The course includes 6 credits and develops in 48 hours of frontal teaching with constant involvement of the students present.


Topic 1, Structure of the atom (8 h): role of inorganic chemistry, origin and distribution of the elements, Law of Lavoisier, Proust law, atomic theory of Dalton. Atoms and atomic mass. Gay Lussac's law and Cannizzaro experiments. Avogadro number, Elementary particles, mass and charge of elementary particles, Thomson, Mullikan and Rutherford experiments. Atomic number, mass number, isotopes. Waves and electromagnetic spectrum, atomic spectra, Planck equation, photoelectric effect, energy quantization, Bohr atom. Atomic models. Particle-wave dualism, De Broglie's principle. Elements of wave mechanics, uncertainty principle, Schrodinger equation, quantum numbers, atomic orbitals, representation of radial and angular wave functions. Multielectronic systems, effective nuclear charge, atomic orbital energy, electronic configurations of the elements. Aufbau, principle of maximum multiplicity of Hund and Pauli's escaping principle, periodic properties of the elements. Dimensions of atoms and ions. Ionization energy, electronic affinity, electronegativity and their variation in the periodic table. Metallic character, polarizability.


Topic 2, Chemical bond (16 h): ionic bond, crystalline structure, packing of spheres, rules of the radial relationship, reticular energy. Born Haber cycle and Born Landè equation. Covalent bond: order, length, geometry and bonding energy; Lewis theory, polar link and electronegativity. Valence bond theory (VB), model VSEPR. hybrid orbitals and molecule form, resonance structures, electronic delocalization. Characteristics of covalent bonding, sigma and p-greek bonds, examples, correlation between structure and reactivity in simple inorganic molecules. Molecular orbital theory (MO), LCAO methods, applications to homonuclear biatomic molecules. Molecular orbitals for heteronuclear and polynuclear molecules, binding order. Magnetic properties. Metal bond, metals and alloys, band theory, Fermi level, electrical conductivity, insulators, intrinsic semiconductors and band gap, semiconductors. Electrostatic bonds, hydrogen bonding. Intermolecular forces, interactions between permanent, induced and instantaneous dipoles. Ionic, covalent, metallic and molecular solids.

Topic 3, Binding in coordination compounds (8 h): general characteristics of transition metals. Structure and isomerism in the complexes. VB treatment of the bond in transition metal complexes. Retrodonation and examples. Crystalline field theory, octahedral complexes, planar and tetrahedral squares, examples, spectrochemical series of ligands. Field theory of binders and MO method applied to complexes. Sigma and p-greek bonds. Electronic spectra and magnetic properties of the complexes, examples

Topic 4, Structural characteristics and properties of the elements of block s and block p and their compounds (16 h): Hydrogen and its compounds: isotopic effects, metal, ionic and covalent hydrides. First and second groups: properties, compounds and bonding structures, alkaline and alkaline earth metals, main compounds, hydrides, halides, carbides, organometallic compounds (Grignard) crown complexes, cryptands, biological importance. Group XIII: elemental boron and bond in its compounds, hydrides, halides, oxides and ossoanions, BN, borazine, borax, borane, carboran, aluminum and its compounds. Group XIV: elemental carbon, allotropic forms and its compounds, fullerenes, oxides, halides, alkanes, alkenes, aromatic compounds, carbides and intercalation compounds. Elementary silicon, silicates, molecular sieves and zeolites, silanes, halides, silicon organ compounds, silicones. Hydrides and halides. Group XV: nitrogen, hydrides, ammonia, oxides and bone anions, acids; Elemental phosphorus and its compounds, hydrides, oxides, oxyacids, phosphates and polyphosphates, halides, phosphazens, phosphines, arsenic, antimony and bismuth, main compounds, hydrides and halides. Group XVI: oxygen, ozone, acid, basic and neutral oxides, oxides, peroxides and superoxides, elemental sulfur, sulfur oxides and oxides, sulfuric, sulfuric, sulfuric acids, hydrides. Group XVII: Halogens, properties of halogens, oxides, acids, oxyacids and ossoanions, interhalogenic compounds, polyhalides. Group XVIII: compounds of noble gases, xenon compounds, oxides and halides.

This course is structured in frontal lectures with the development of numerous examples to demonstrate and apply the models on display to simple molecular systems. In particular, a total of 48 hours of frontal teaching (6 CFU) are planned to acquire the knowledge highlighted in the training objectives. In order to develop the ability to apply knowledge, examples and exercises are expected. The lessons are held weekly in the classroom, with two lessons each two hours, for a total of 4 hours per week and the exposure is done using the blackboard and / or slides on power-point.

The frequency of teaching classes is not mandatory but recommended.

The modalities through which the achievement of the learning outcomes are ascertained consist in an oral exam, in which the student is asked to describe, also with examples and simple exercises, what has been learned in the course. During the lesson, tests for the evaluation will be also provided in order to help the learning process of the students The exam is aimed at verifying the level of knowledge and in-depth examination of the topics of the teaching program and the reasoning skills developed by the student. The evaluation is expressed in thirtieths (minimum grade 18/30, maximum mark 30/30 with honors). The evaluation consists of an oral test. The overall exam allows to verify the achievement of the objectives in terms of knowledge and skills acquired as well as communication skills. The timing of the exam will be at the end of the course and in the sessions provided by the CAD (June-July, September, January-February).

The oral exam includes open-ended questions on the topics covered in the course, accompanied by examples and exercises. The answers are evaluated for completeness of content, ability to synthesize and links between the different themes developed during the course. The examples are useful for verifying the ability to interpret the link. In the assessment of the examination the determination of the final grade takes into account the following elements:
the theoretical basis followed by the student for the exposure of the question, the capacity for reasoning, the ownership of language, the clarity of exposition and the critical capacity.
To pass the exam, the student must demonstrate that he has acquired sufficient knowledge of the topics related to the chemical bond by applying it to examples of inorganic chemistry. To achieve the maximum score (30/30 cum laude), the student must demonstrate that he has acquired an excellent knowledge of all the topics covered during the course, being able to link them in a logical and coherent way, with a correlation capacity between the chemical structure and properties.