Everything that is not built around a carbon skeleton.
9 topics · 11 curated works
No prior grounding assumed.
Chemistry of the Main Group Elements
Andrew R. Barron · 2015
Works through the s- and p-block elements group by group, tying each one's reactivity to the periodic trends in size, electronegativity and oxidation…
+1 more at this level
Assumes you know the vocabulary.
On the Constitution and Configuration of Higher-Order Compounds
Alfred Werner · 1913
Proposes that a metal ion holds a fixed number of ligands in a defined spatial arrangement independent of ordinary valence, founding coordination…
+2 more at this level
Primary sources and full treatments.
Termaufspaltung in Kristallen
Hans Bethe · 1929
Calculates how the electrostatic field of surrounding ions splits a metal ion's degenerate d-orbital energies, founding crystal field theory.
+5 more at this level
11 works
Andrew R. Barron
Works through the s- and p-block elements group by group, tying each one's reactivity to the periodic trends in size, electronegativity and oxidation state that explain it.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Peter Wothers (The Royal Institution)
Demonstrates experimentally that the periodic table's groups predict reactivity, so the arrangement is a claim about electronic structure rather than a filing convenience.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Alfred Werner
Proposes that a metal ion holds a fixed number of ligands in a defined spatial arrangement independent of ordinary valence, founding coordination chemistry as a distinct structural theory.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Geoffrey Wilkinson
Explains why simple metal-carbon sigma bonds were long thought unstable, and how correctly identifying ferrocene's sandwich structure overturned that assumption.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Gerhard Ertl
Shows that a heterogeneous catalytic reaction can be followed step by step at the atomic scale, revealing self-organised patterns such as travelling reaction fronts within what looks like an ordinary steady-state process.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Hans Bethe
Calculates how the electrostatic field of surrounding ions splits a metal ion's degenerate d-orbital energies, founding crystal field theory.
link failing as of 17 Sept 2026Linus Pauling
Derives five rules from ionic radius ratios that predict how ions pack into a crystal structure, linking the size of an ion directly to the solid-state structure it forms.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Linus Pauling
Derives a numerical electronegativity scale from bond dissociation energies, converting a qualitative periodic trend into values that predict bond polarity.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Irving Langmuir
Argues that catalysis on a solid surface proceeds through a monolayer of adsorbed reactant, unifying adsorption theory with catalytic mechanism.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Max Perutz
Uses the heavy-atom method to solve haemoglobin's structure by X-ray crystallography, revealing how the protein's shape changes as it binds oxygen.
link checked 17 Sept 2026International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
Sets out systematic rules for naming inorganic compounds and ions, from simple binary salts to coordination complexes and solid-state phases.
link checked 17 Sept 2026