Both introductory texts and texts for upper-level inorganic chemistry courses are shifting the emphasis in their coverage of transition metal chemistry from classical Werner complexes to those that exhibit some form of catalytic activity. This is of particular importance to bioinorganic chemistry, a now mature area of the science, but one that is still underrepresented in the undergraduate curriculum.

Derrick L. Howard, Arthur D. Tinoco, Gary W. Brudvig, John S. Vrettos, and Bertha Connie Allen address this issue in their paper on catalytic oxygen production by a dimanganese complex that is proposed as a model for the four-manganese center in Photosystem II. The featured molecules for May are the model compound in the proposed mechanism for oxygen production.

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In addition to the static image, two fully manipulable versions (Jmol, MDLChime) of these molecules appear below. (The Jmol versions may take a few extr

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