A new compound, [Cd(mipit)4][PF6]2 has been synthesized and characterized via standard solid and solution state methods including single crystal X-ray crystallography (mipit = 1-methyl-3-(2-propyl)-2(3H)-imidazolethione). The title compound crystallizes in tetragonal space group I4 1 /a with a = 12.478(2) Å, b = 12.478(2) Å, c = 28.806(6) Å, and Z = 4. The complex is a high melting, colorless solid that has a distorted tetrahedral CdS4 coordination geometry. Thermogravimetric analysis results for the title compound as well as for another potential CdS synthon and two potential CdSe synthons are reported.

A complex of BiCl3 with 1-methyl-2(3H)-imidazolethione (meimtH) has been prepared and characterized. The structure consists of two different bismuth coordination spheres. One is distorted octahedral with three meimtH in meridional configuration and is tethered via hydrogen bonding to a dimeric pair of octahedra sharing a common edge through bridging chlorine atoms.

A method that we have used to attract undergraduates into research projects incorporates a thematicligand approach using a class of thiourea-type ligands known as 1-methyl-3-alkyl-2(3H)-imidazolethiones (mait) to make new metal and nonmetal halide addition products never before reported in the literature. A related selenium analog and a bidentate thione are also employed in the process, which to date has produced 24 new compounds. Twenty-one student co-authors, 10 female and 11 male, have been involved in the presentation of these results in a total of 15 published in peer-reviewed journals and in 13 presentations at regional, national, or international symposia. The students start the work as a team research project in an intermediate inorganic synthesis laboratory course by first making the ligand and then its addition product which is characterized by standard methods during the course. Many of the attempts are failures, but teams that produce new compounds often go on to research projects that result in further structural characterization through collaborative efforts with the Georgia Institute of Technology or with Clemson University. A case study involving the synthesis and characterization of 1-methyl-3-(2-propyl)-imidazole-2(3H)-thione (mipit) and its bismuth trichloride adduct, BiCl3 (mipit)2 is presented in this report.

The synthesis of Zeolite A or Linde Type A zeolite is described as an undergraduate laboratory geared for the first-year student in general chemistry. The procedure describes the synthesis, isolation, and various qualitative and quantitative characterization methods related to the material’s water-softening ability.