"Valence Bond Theory in Coordination Chemistry" #chempaperaday 178

This is a very short paper by Linus Pauling. Apparently, he read an article where the author said that valence bond theory was not as popular and useful as it was. Obviously, the response came from Pauling and his response in fact was very short:

"I do not agree with this opinion."

The rest of the article explains how valence bond theory is still can be used in coordination compounds.

The article was published in Journal of Chemical Education, but here you can read it as pdf for free.

http://depa.fquim.unam.mx/amyd/archivero/VBPAULING_26400.pdf

On Irving-Williams Series

If you take Inorganic Chemistry, you are very likely to learn Irving-Williams Series. Even if you don't learn it in the class, you will have to learn the series by yourself. Because, it shows up almost everywhere! Simply, the series is about the stability of complex ions and it is extremely important (at least that's what I think now). Anyway, my purpose in writing this post is not to give a lecture on the series. 

Although I define myself as a "curious" person, I have never wondered why the series was named so. I bought Advances in Inorganic Chemistry (Volume 36) long time ago and I have just started to read it.  This volume was dedicated to R.J.P. Williams and it has an introduction by A.G.Sykes. 

So, I started to read the introduction and learned that Prof.Williams is recognized as the "founder" of bioinorganic chemistry. He was very interested in the inorganic elements in biology and as an undergrad he worked with Prof.Irving on a project that would lead to the Irving-Williams Series. This must have been one of the best moments in his career. What a start! Now I know why the series was named after those two names. I hope you too.

Prof.Williams