(10/22) Exp. #34 - Synthesis and Use of Wilkinson's Catalyst

This experiment, we synthesized wilkinson's catalyst and its bromo substituted derivative by reacting rhodium chloride with triphenylphosphine. Pretty yellow crystals were formed, and it was very informative to see the differences in FTIR and HNMR caused by the substitution by bromo groups. While there was supposed be a catalyzed decarboxylation by the complex onto n-heptanal, this did not work due to the low yield of the reaction and the micro-scale of the reaction.

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(8/27) Exp. #17 - Thione Complexes of Cobalt (II) Nitrate Hexahydrate

This was our first experiment and I was unsure what to expect; this chemistry lab was much longer in class length than any other and that was kind of intimidating. It was also my first physical class since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. However, things ended up going relatively smoothly due to precautions and other measures taken by the UCF staff such as measuring our temperatures before entering the building, ensuring we wear our masks, and handing us experimental kits that are disinfected between uses. While it did take long and the product wasn't completely pure, we did end up succesfully synthesizing two different Cobalt-mimt complexes. This experiment yielded a really clean FTIR spectra that was easy to break down to see different functional groups and contaminants, which was really a really good skill to sharpen up early in the semester as it would come to help with every single lab after this. A 75% yield was impressive, bu...

(10/8) Exp. #33 - Reaction of Cr(III) with a Multidentate Ligand

This experiment was an easy one, and we were yet again using a compound I was familiar with, EDTA. This multidentate ligand exists in different states depending on the pH of the solution it is in, and thus required precise tuning of pH in order to successfully perform the desired reaction, and kinetics studies were performed to see how the different pH levels affected the reaction rate.

(10/1) Handout #2: Photocatalysis Using Ruthenium(II) tris-Bipyridine

This was one of the experiments that I was looking forward to performing the most, but not for typical reasons. First of all, photocatalysis is such a cool and interesting field of chemistry that is ever evolving to change the future of energy production, so the reaction itself was awesome to learn about. However, more cool is heat sealing glass test tubes using a torch. God that stuff is cool and applicable to future glass involved projects.

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