In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule with a functional group that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding with the metal generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's electron pairs, often through Lewis bases. The nature of metal–ligand bonding can range from covalent to ionic. Furthermore, the metal–ligand bond order can range from one to three. Ligands are viewed as Lewis bases, although rare cases are known to involve Lewis acidic "ligands".
In chemistry, the oxidation state, or oxidation number, is the hypothetical charge of an atom if all of its bonds to other atoms were fully ionic. It describes the degree of oxidation of an atom in a chemical compound. Conceptually, the oxidation state may be positive, negative or zero. While fully ionic bonds are not found in nature, many bonds exhibit strong ionicity, making oxidation state a useful predictor of charge.
Valence shell electron pair repulsion (VSEPR) theory is a model used in chemistry to predict the geometry of individual molecules from the number of electron pairs surrounding their central atoms. It is also named the Gillespie-Nyholm theory after its two main developers, Ronald Gillespie and Ronald Nyholm.
A transition metal carbene complex is an organometallic compound featuring a divalent organic ligand. The divalent organic ligand coordinated to the metal center is called a carbene. Carbene complexes for almost all transition metals have been reported. Many methods for synthesizing them and reactions utilizing them have been reported. The term carbene ligand is a formalism since many are not derived from carbenes and almost none exhibit the reactivity characteristic of carbenes. Described often as M=CR2, they represent a class of organic ligands intermediate between alkyls (−CR3) and carbynes (≡CR). They feature in some catalytic reactions, especially alkene metathesis, and are of value in the preparation of some fine chemicals.
A persistent carbene (also known as stable carbene) is a type of carbene demonstrating particular stability. The best-known examples and by far largest subgroup are the N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) (sometimes called Arduengo carbenes), for example diaminocarbenes with the general formula (R2N)2C:, where the four R moieties are typically alkyl and aryl groups. The groups can be linked to give heterocyclic carbenes, such as those derived from imidazole, imidazoline, thiazole or triazole.
A quadruple bond is a type of chemical bond between two atoms involving eight electrons. This bond is an extension of the more familiar types of covalent bonds: double bonds and triple bonds. Stable quadruple bonds are most common among the transition metals in the middle of the d-block, such as rhenium, tungsten, technetium, molybdenum and chromium. Typically the ligands that support quadruple bonds are π-donors, not π-acceptors. Quadruple bonds are rare as compared to double bonds and triple bonds, but hundreds of compounds with such bonds have been prepared.
In coordination chemistry, hapticity is the coordination of a ligand to a metal center via an uninterrupted and contiguous series of atoms. The hapticity of a ligand is described with the Greek letter η ('eta'). For example, η2 describes a ligand that coordinates through 2 contiguous atoms. In general the η-notation only applies when multiple atoms are coordinated. In addition, if the ligand coordinates through multiple atoms that are not contiguous then this is considered denticity, and the κ-notation is used once again. When naming complexes care should be taken not to confuse η with μ ('mu'), which relates to bridging ligands.
The 18-electron rule is a chemical rule of thumb used primarily for predicting and rationalizing formulas for stable transition metal complexes, especially organometallic compounds. The rule is based on the fact that the valence orbitals in the electron configuration of transition metals consist of five (n−1)d orbitals, one ns orbital, and three np orbitals, where n is the principal quantum number. These orbitals can collectively accommodate 18 electrons as either bonding or non-bonding electron pairs. This means that the combination of these nine atomic orbitals with ligand orbitals creates nine molecular orbitals that are either metal-ligand bonding or non-bonding. When a metal complex has 18 valence electrons, it is said to have achieved the same electron configuration as the noble gas in the period, lending stability to the complex. Transition metal complexes that deviate from the rule are often interesting or useful because they tend to be more reactive. The rule is not helpful for complexes of metals that are not transition metals. The rule was first proposed by American chemist Irving Langmuir in 1921.
Metal nitrosyl complexes are complexes that contain nitric oxide, NO, bonded to a transition metal. Many kinds of nitrosyl complexes are known, which vary both in structure and coligand.
Bis(benzene)chromium is the organometallic compound with the formula Cr(η6-C6H6)2. It is sometimes called dibenzenechromium. The compound played an important role in the development of sandwich compounds in organometallic chemistry and is the prototypical complex containing two arene ligands.
A sextuple bond is a type of covalent bond involving 12 bonding electrons and in which the bond order is 6. The only known molecules with true sextuple bonds are the diatomic dimolybdenum (Mo2) and ditungsten (W2), which exist in the gaseous phase and have boiling points of 4,639 °C (8,382 °F) and 5,930 °C (10,710 °F) respectively.
In organometallic chemistry, a metal–ligand multiple bond describes the interaction of certain ligands with a metal with a bond order greater than one. Coordination complexes featuring multiply bonded ligands are of both scholarly and practical interest. Transition metal carbene complexes catalyze the olefin metathesis reaction. Metal oxo intermediates are pervasive in oxidation catalysis.
In organometallic chemistry, extended metal atom chains (EMACs) are molecules that consist of a linear chain of directly bonded metal atoms, surrounded by organic ligands. These compounds represent the smallest molecular wires. Such species are researched for the bottom-up approach to nanoelectronics, although no applications are near term.
In chemistry, the double bond rule states that elements with a principal quantum number (n) greater than 2 for their valence electrons (period 3 elements and higher) tend not to form multiple bonds (e.g. double bonds and triple bonds). The double bonds, when they exist, are often weak due to poor orbital overlap between the n>2 orbitals of the two atoms. Although such compounds are not intrinsically unstable, they instead tend to polymerize. An example is the rapid polymerization that occurs upon condensation of disulfur, the heavy analogue of O2. Numerous exceptions to the rule exist.
Organomolybdenum chemistry is the chemistry of chemical compounds with Mo-C bonds. The heavier group 6 elements molybdenum and tungsten form organometallic compounds similar to those in organochromium chemistry but higher oxidation states tend to be more common.
Molybdenum(II) acetate is a coordination compound with the formula Mo2(O2CCH3)4. It is a yellow, diamagnetic, air-stable solid that is slightly soluble in organic solvents. Molybdenum(II) acetate is an iconic example of a compound with a metal-metal quadruple bond.
A silanone in chemistry is the silicon analogue of a ketone. The general description for this class of organic compounds is R1R2Si=O, with silicon connected to a terminal oxygen atom via a double bond and also with two organic residues (R). Silanones are extremely reactive and until 2013 were only detected by argon matrix isolation or in the gas phase but not isolated. A synthesis of a stable silanone was reported in 2014. Silanones are of some interest to academic research, with their reactivity being of some relevance to the double bond rule.
In organometallic chemistry, a transition metal alkyne complex is a coordination compound containing one or more alkyne ligands. Such compounds are intermediates in many catalytic reactions that convert alkynes to other organic products, e.g. hydrogenation and trimerization.
In inorganic chemistry, metal–metal bonds describe attractive interactions between metal centers. The simplest examples are found in bimetallic complexes. Metal–metal bonds can be "supported", i.e. be accompanied by one or more bridging ligands, or "unsupported". They can also vary according to bond order. The topic of metal–metal bonding is usually discussed within the framework of coordination chemistry, but the topic is related to extended metallic bonding, which describes interactions between metals in extended solids such as bulk metals and metal subhalides.
m-Terphenyls (also known as meta-terphenyls, meta-diphenylbenzenes, or meta-triphenyls) are organic molecules composed of two phenyl groups bonded to a benzene ring in the one and three positions. The simplest formula is C18H14, but many different substituents can be added to create a diverse class of molecules. Due to the extensive pi-conjugated system, the molecule it has a range of optical properties and because of its size, it is used to control the sterics in reactions with metals and main group elements. This is because of the disubstituted phenyl rings, which create a pocket for molecules and elements to bond without being connected to anything else. It is a popular choice in ligand, and the most chosen amongst the terphenyls because of its benefits in regards to sterics. Although many commercial methods exist to create m-terphenyl compounds, they can also be found naturally in plants such as mulberry trees.
![The structure of [CrC6H3-2,6-(C6H3-2,6-(CHMe2)2)2]2 Ar2Cr2PP.svg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Ar2Cr2PP.svg/200px-Ar2Cr2PP.svg.png)
