Teaching

Prof. Hey-Hawkins offers the lectures "Chemistry of Transition Metals" (2nd semester) and "Organometallic Chemistry" (4th semester) and heads the practical course "Advanced Inorganic Chemistry" in the Bachelor Chemistry study program (5th semester). Furthermore, she offers the lecture "Chemistry of Transition Metals" in the Teacher Training study program in the 6th semester as well as the lectures "Biometallorganic Chemistry" (1st semester) and "Bioinorganic Chemistry" (2nd semester) in the Master Chemistry study program. Advanced practical courses in organometallic chemistry are offered to master students of all semesters of the master program and of all chemistry programs (MSc Chemistry, Erasmus-Mundus ASC, international MSc SCS). The focus lies on the:

• properties of transition metals and their compounds: structures, ionization energy, standard reduction potential, oxidation states, metal production, coordination chemistry (history, basic terms, nomenclature, coordination numbers and polyhedra, isomerism), bonding in complexes (VB theory, ligand field theory, spectrochemical series, Jahn-Teller effect), magnetic properties, overview of elements and compounds of groups 3 to 12, including lanthanides/actinides;
• introduction to organometallic chemistry, environmental aspects, nomenclature, bond types (ionic, covalent), main group metal compounds (groups 1, 2, 13 and 14), transition metal compounds (bonding theory, MO theory; 18-electron rule; carbonyl, alkyl, alkene and π-complexes; areas of application, specifically catalysis);
• synthetic concepts for inorganic and organometallic compounds for use in medicinal chemistry and characterisation by modern spectroscopic methods;
• metalloenzymes: bioelements, bioligands, physical methods; O₂ transport and activation; Iron: Uptake, transport, storage, iron proteins; Copper proteins; Cobalamins; Molybdenum enzymes: nitrogen fixation; Nickel enzymes: urease/hydrogenases; Zinc enzymes.