Amide-Functionalized Naphthyridines on a Rh(II)–Rh(II) Platform #chempaper 225

This is an interesting paper on dirhodium complexes where the authors try to synthesize some catalytically active compounds, but instead they found out and reported the steric effects of the ligands. Some of the complexes do show some catalytic activity but the known and simple dirhodium acetate complex is still much more active.

Anyway, it's worth reading and seeing some interesting ligands and synthetic work.


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/chem.201402936/full

Multiple Metal-Metal Bonds #chempaper 224

This is another paper by F.A. Cotton on (of course) multiple metal-metal bonds. It was basically a lecture he gave in ACS Seattle (1983). Not surprisingly he summarizes multiple M-M bonding starting as early as mid 18th century. So, I got to learn a lot from this paper that I had not known. There is also a really interesting quote and talk by Linus Pauling on metal-metal bonding where he tries to describe a few Mo-Mo, W-W and Ta-Ta bonds. Cotton also confesses that he had heard about Pauling's paper by pure coincidence.

On the famous Re-Re multiple bonding, Cotton says :

As always, it was a pleasure to read the paper. I hope you enjoy it too.

Learning Python - My First Program

I have tried to learn some coding before but didn't have enough time/ambition to do so. This year, I started learning Python again and I am taking it more seriously. I am determined to learn it and do something "useful" with it. One of the courses I am taking is An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python on Coursera and the code below is for our first Miniproject (Rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock). Any feedback is appreciated.

# My first program
# Rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock

import random
import math

def name_to_number(name): # converts name to number
    if name == "rock":
        return "0"  
    elif name == "Spock":
        return "1"
    elif name == "paper":
        return "2"
    elif name == "lizard":
        return "3"
    elif name == "scissors":
        return "4"
    else:
        print "Please choose one of these : rock, Spock, paper, lizard, scissors."

def number_to_name(number): # converts number to a name
    if number == 0:
        return "rock"
   
    elif number == 1:
        return "Spock"
       
    elif number == 2:
        return "paper"
       
    elif number == 3:
        return "lizard"
       
    elif number == 4:
        return "scissors"
   
def rpsls(player_choice):
   
    print "New game!"
   
    print ""
   
    print "Player chooses " + player_choice
   
    comp_number = int(random.randrange(0 , 5)) # computes random guess for comp_number
   
    comp_choice = number_to_name(comp_number)
   
    player_number = int(name_to_number(player_choice))
       
    print "Computer chooses", comp_choice

    num = int((comp_number - player_number) % 5) # computes difference of comp_number and player_number modulo five
   
    if (num == 1) or (num == 2) or (num == - 1) or (num == - 2):
       
        print "Computer wins!"
       
    elif (num == 3) or (num == 4)or (num == - 3) or (num == - 4):
       
        print "Player wins!"
       
    elif (num == 0):
       
        print "Player and computer tie!"

rpsls("rock")
rpsls("Spock")
rpsls("paper")
rpsls("lizard")
rpsls("scissors")

Inorganic Chemistry Notes 1 - On Oxides

I have recently decided to write down some notes on inorganic chemistry for a few purposes:

    - so that I don't forget a few basic things

    - to memorize some of the tricky details

    - to be able to use the blog as my notebook

      and several other reasons.

These mostly will be from the papers or references I read from time to time.

Here comes the first one on oxides from Cotton and Wilkinson's Basic Inorganic Chemistry textbook.

Ionic oxides react with water to make metal hydroxides. But, they dissolve in acids to produce the metal cation and water.

Covalent oxides, on the other side are acidic in water. The water insoluble ones dissolve in bases. 

Amphoteric oxides are bases towards strong acids and they act as acids in bases.

Evaluating Molecular Cobalt Complexes for the Conversion of N2 to NH3 #chempaper 223

Another great (IMO) example and very well studied complex for nitrogen fixation. As an inorganic chemist, I love this type of work with synthetic routes and nice tables that give good information.

A fast metal–metal bonded water oxidation catalyst #chempaper 222

If you are one of those people who are interested in metal-metal bonding, you might have already read this article. It's in one of those less known journals (Journal of Catalysis). But, I try to look for some articles every once in a while. I think it's a really useful journal. 

To me, the most important part of the article is the proof that compounds having metal-metal bonds can be useful in catalysis. There are tons of examples of them, but this is one of the most recent ones. You don't have to develop an industrial catalyst, but you can still prove people that you can achieve catalysis using these complexes.