insight4me Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry With Professor Simon J Lancaster From University of East Anglia & Dr Joy Farnaby From University of Glasgow

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• University of Glasgow: Dr Joy Farnaby www.farnabygroup.com is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemistry. Joy will present Applying Inorganic Chemistry to Industrial Challenges: A Plutonium Case Study. In the UK, electricity generation using Nuclear Power is key to energy security and achieving Net Zero. After six decades of commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing by Sellafield Ltd the UK has the largest inventory of civil plutonium (Pu) worldwide. The current and future management of the UK’s civil Pu is one of the most complex and important challenges in nuclear decommissioning. The talk will cover how we are using actinide chemistry to explore, understand, and therefore support the scientific challenges of managing the UK’s civil Pu in collaboration with nuclear industry partners. Specifically, how we make well-defined surrogate materials for PuO₂, using synthetic inorganic chemistry and air-sensitive experimental techniques, and how we apply catalysis technology coupled with spectroscopy to study their reactivity under industrial conditions.

• University of East Anglia: Simon J. Lancaster is Professor of Chemistry Education and coauthor of Inorganic Chemistry 8e. Simon will present What makes transition metal complexes coloured? Do you take colour for granted? Have you ever wondered why V²⁺⁽aq) is violet and Cu²⁺(aq) is blue? Vanadium and copper are examples of transition metals, those elements in the (central) d block of the periodic table that form chemical compounds in which their five d orbitals are partially filled with between one and nine electrons. Transition metals form complexes with ligands in a much wider range of geometries than are found in carbon compounds. d Orbitals are highly directional and while the d orbitals all have the same energy (are degenerate) for gas phase atoms and ions as soon as they form complexes the electrons in the orbitals interact with the electrons of the ligands and that degeneracy is lost. We will introduce you to a free augmented reality smartphone app, ChemFord, that allows us to manipulate complexes, overlay orbitals, understand why some orbitals interact more strongly than others, and get to the conceptual heart of why transition metal complexes are coloured.

In this insight4me Chemistry online event for schools and colleges, two universities, University of East Anglia and University of Glasgow, will each have roughly 30 minutes to deliver a punchy, interactive topic based ‘micro’ talk. Within an overall session theme of Inorganic Chemistry, the universities have the freedom to choose their own focus and use the time to convey the key points of the case studies for the students.

insight4me is a series of subject specific webinars for Aged 16+ pre-university students. The sessions directly support students’ current studies by giving an insight into particular curriculum areas whilst affording an understanding of how these subjects continue beyond A-levels, T-levels, IB, BTEC and equivalent qualifications, and how they vary between universities.

Our events are designed so that a group of students can take part from a classroom or students and teachers can take part as individuals, either from school or from home. There is no charge to take part.

As a live, participative event, this session will not be recorded but slides and other resources will be shared after the event, where available.

Suitable for: Aged 16+ pre-university students studying, or with a possible interest in studying, Chemistry and related disciplines. Student groups, and individual students and teachers are very welcome to join us.

Preparation/Pre-Reading: Students may wish to consider the 2 topics and discuss some of the key elements in advance. Students can also think about questions they have about studying at university level.

The IT Setup: The event will be run on Zoom and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting on to a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the university via typed comments and questions or via a microphone if preferred. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.

Booking a Place: This is free for schools and colleges. If you would like to take part in this event, please register your interest using the link to the registration form below:

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