Hello! We are nearing the end of the semester and I feel like I have learned so much chemistry over the past fifteen weeks. We went from organic chemistry to electrochemistry in what feels like a second. Luckily, I have done my best to keep up and feel comfortable going into this final week. The latest chapter to be gifted to my brain is the section on coordination chemistry. I find this fascinating – as it has direct relation to my field of study in geophysics.
A lot of the time in chemistry, it feels like I am just going through the motions – doing the math, pulling out the answer for a solution that would be more applicable to someone designing batteries or someone in the pharmaceudical field. Coordination chemistry, however, is everywhere in mineralogy. Mineralogy is the study of minerals, namely their molecular crystal structures. In a mineralogy course I completed last semester at UNM, we were introduced to – more so thrown into – a crash course on coordination chemistry that dealt with multiple crystallographic sites being occupied by a range of transition metals and surrounded by accompanying elements like oxygen, hydrogen, etc. The class talked a lot about how the underlying coordination number relates to the overall crystal structure. If the unit cell of the crystal structure is orthorhombic (cubic) then it is likely that the mineral, as it grows, will also be orthorhombic. Or if the unit cell is hexagonal, the crystal will grow in a hexagonal form. A crystal’s symmetry has direct relation to its identification in rocks as well. In a tetragonal crystal system, the orientation of the crystallographic axes to a plane of polarized light will either act constructively or destructively, aiding in the characterization of growth patter of the mineral within a rock sample. Anyways, I could go on forever, but it was very interesting to see the material in this chemistry class actually call back on that previous mineralogy class. From first hand experience, I know exactly how complicated coordination chemistry can get, and I am glad that the chemistry portion just gave a ‘taste’ of it rather than going into too much detail. I also very much appreciated the lessons on nomenclature of these complex compounds.
I plan to take the exam tomorrow, and in Learning Journal number 6, I will continue my discussion on my confidence and readiness for the exam. Thank you so much for reading!
CHEM1810 Journal 