There are not a whole lot of manuals aimed atsenior-levelundergraduate laboratory courses in inorganicchemistry. Only fourwere published in the 90s: Szafran, Pike,and Singhs MicroscaleInorganic Chemistry (1), the 3rd edi-tion of Angelicis classicSynthesis and Technique in InorganicChemistry updated by Girolamiand Rauchfuss (2), Tanakaand Suibs Experimental Methods inInorganic Chemistry (3),and the 1st edition of Woollins InorganicExperiments (4).While this shortage is arguably a consequence ofthe tendencyby many instructors to simply design such courses basedonpersonal experience or experimental procedures reported inthisJournal or in serials such as Inorganic Syntheses, it is clearthatthe need for innovative, stimulating experiments andtextsremains.
The first edition of Inorganic Experiments has been com-pletelyrevised and enlarged (more enlarged than revised, Iwould say) andit continues to exhibit several features thatdistinguish it fromits current market competitors. It is nowa collection of almost 90experiments written by a group of63 international contributors(about half of whom are in theUK). While this is not necessarily anadvantage over bookswritten by two or three authors, it doesreflect an effort todraw experiments from individuals with adiversity of back-grounds and research interests. Perhaps moreimportantly, itis still the only inorganic laboratory manual thatcontainsseparate sections for introductory, intermediate, andadvancedexperiments. Almost 100 additional pages and 24 newex-periments (eight in each section) have been added to thisnewedition, thus giving instructors even more options to choosefromfor selected topics or to adjust the course to time orenrollmentconstraints.
Inorganic Experiments Woollins Pdf Download
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The 2nd edition of Inorganic Experiments starts with abriefintroduction to the expository (skills-oriented) and in-vestigative(discovery-oriented) approaches to laboratory in-struction (5).Since much has been written about the benefitsof inquiry-based ordiscovery-oriented laboratory experiences(6), it is fortunate thatWoollins book follows this model inmost of its experiments. Chapter2 (Introductory Experi-ments) deals with the preparation of varioussimple inorganiccompounds and coordination complexes, includingiron(III)oxalate complexes, interhalogen compounds, andsiloxanepolymers. Even straightforward experiments have agoodpedagogic value when presented in the right context. Forex-ample, the preparation of copper(I) iodide from its elements
As much as I personally like this book and believe it is agreatresource for instructors, I cannot say it would be mytop choice asa lab manual for undergraduate students. I stillprefer Girolami,Rauchfuss, and Angelicis book (2), whichhas a shorter list ofexperiments to choose from but, unlikeWoollinss text, has also goodintroductory sections on safety,common laboratory practices, andthe organization of labo-ratory notebooks. In addition, it hasbetter guidelines for re-ports and independent studies and a morecomprehensivebibliography associated with each experiment. In thesamevein, Szafran, Pike, and Singhs manual (1) alsoincorporatesnice individual chapters on safety, equipment,commonmicroscale techniques, spectroscopic methods (almost40pages!), and a more balanced roll of experiments,includingseveral on main group and bioinorganic chemistry. Insum-mary, Inorganic Experiments is an eclectic but veryattractivecompilation of experiments in modern inorganicchemistry,and I highly recommend it to instructors ofundergraduateinorganic laboratory courses and to otherprofessionals witha general interest in synthetic inorganic ororganometallicchemistry. 2ff7e9595c
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