Synthesis and Decomposition Kinetic Studies of Bis(lutidine)silver(I) Nitrate Complexes as an Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Chemistry Experiment

Abstract

Interdisciplinary experiments are being offered in upper-division chemistry laboratory courses in an attempt to encourage students to make a connection between techniques learned in one discipline to affirm chemical principles that form the basis of chemical reactions in another chemistry discipline. A new interdisciplinary experiment is described in which students synthesize bis(lutidine)silver(I) nitrate complexes, where the position of the methyl groups on the pyridine ring varies. The stability of these metal complexes is evaluated as a function of basicity of the ligand by studying the rate of decomposition of the metal complex through isothermal thermogravimetric analysis. An Arrhenius plot is used to determine activation energies for the decomposition reaction, and the data are used to establish the positive correlation between the activation energy with the basicity of the lutidine ligand.