Chapter 22

Coordination
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 22.1 Coordination Compounds
• Coordination compounds contain
coordinate covalent bonds formed
between metal ions with groups of anions
or polar molecules.
– Metal ion – Lewis acid
– Bonded groups – Lewis base
• Complex ion – ion in which a metal cation
is covalently bound to one or more
molecules or ions

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• Components of a coordination compound
– Complex ion (enclosed in square barckets)

– Counter ions
– Some coordination compounds do not contain
a complex ion

– Most of the metals in complexes are transition

metals

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• Properties of transition metals
– Have incompletely filled d subshells
– Or react to form ions with incompletely
filled d subshells
• Distinctive colors
• Paramagnetism
• Catalytic activity
• Tendency to form complex ions
– Exhibit variable oxidation state

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 The Transition Metals

Transition metals shown in green box.

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Oxidation States of the Transition Metals

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• Ligands - the molecules or ions that
surround the metal in a complex ion
– Must contain at least one unshared pair of
valence electrons

– Donor atom – atom in the ligand directly

bonded to the metal atom

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– Coordination number – number of donor
atoms surrounding the central atom
• Common coordination numbers: 4 and 6
– Classifications of ligands
• Monodentate – 1 donor atom
• Bidentate – 2 donor atoms
• Polydentate - > 2 donor atoms
• Chelating agents – another name for bidentate or
polydentate ligands
– Overall charge on the complex ion is
determined by
• Oxidation state of the metal
• Charges on the ligands
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(en)

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Representations of [Co(en)3]2+

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Representations of [Pb(EDTA)]2

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(en)
(EDTA)
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Determine oxidation number for the transition
metal, Au, in
K[Au(OH)4]

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K[Au(OH)4] consists of a complex ion (the
part of the formula enclosed in square
brackets) and one K counter ion. Because
the overall charge on the compound is zero,
the complex ion is [Au(OH)4]. There are four
ligands each with a 1 charge, making the
total negative charge  4. So the charge on
the gold ion must be +3.

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• Nomenclature of Coordination
Compounds
– The cation is named before the anion, as in
other ionic compounds.
– Within a complex ion, the ligands are named
first, in alphabetical order, and the metal ion is
named last.
– The names of anionic ligands end with the
letter o, whereas neutral ligands are usually
called by the names of the molecules. The
exceptions are H2O (aquo), CO (carbonyl),
and NH3 (ammine).

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– When two or more of the same ligand are
present, use Greek prefixes di-, tri-, tetra-,
penta-, and hexa- to specify their number.
(Prefixes are not included in determining the
alphabetical order.) When the name of the
ligand contains a Greek prefix, a different set
of prefixes are used for the ligand: 2 = bis-, 3
= tris-, 4 = tetrakis-
– The oxidation number of the metal is indicated
in Roman numerals immediately following the
name of the metal.
– If the complex is an anion, its name ends in
-ate. (Roman numeral indicating the oxidation
state of the metal follows the suffix -ate.)
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Give the correct name for [Cr(H 2O)4Cl2]Cl.

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 [Cr(H2O)4Cl2]Cl

Tetraaquodichlorochromium(III) chloride

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Write the formula for
tris(ethylenediamine)cobalt(III) sulfate

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tris(ethylenediamine)cobalt(III) sulfate

[Co(en)3]2(SO4)3

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 22.2 Structure of Coordination
Compounds
• Molecular geometry – plays a significant
role in determining properties
– Structure is related to coordination number

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Common Geometries of Complex Ions

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• Stereoisomers
– Ligands arranged differently
– Distinctly different properties
• Type of complex ion stereoisomerism
– Geometric isomers – cannot be
interconverted without breaking chemical
bonds
• Designated as cis and trans

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Cis and Trans Isomers of Diamminedichloroplatinum(II)

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– Optical isomers – nonsuperimposable mirror
images
• Termed chiral
• Rotate polarized light in different directions
– Rotation to the right – dextrorotatory (d
isomer)
– Rotation to the left – levorotatory (l
isomer)
• Enantiomers – a pair of d and l isomers
• Racemic mixture – equimolar mixture of
two enantiomers
– Net rotation of polarized light is zero

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Nonsuperimposable Mirror Images: A Common Example

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Nonsuperimposable Mirror Images: A Chemical Example

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 Optical Isomers of Geometric Isomers

cis trans
rotate in any manner rotate 90o
nonsuperimposable superimposable
chiral achiral
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Operation of a Polarimeter

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 22.3 Bonding in Coordination
Compounds: Crystal Field Theory
• Crystal field theory explains the bonding in
complex ions purely in terms of
electrostatic forces.
– Attraction between the metal ion (atom) and
the ligands
– Repulsion between the lone pairs on the
ligands and the electrons in the d orbitals of
the metal
– In the absence of ligands, the d orbitals are
degenerate
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– In the presence of ligands, electrons in d
orbitals experience different levels of
repulsion for the ligand lone pairs
– As a result (depending on the geometry)
some d orbitals attain higher energy and
others lower energy

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– In an octahedral complex
• the electrons in the d orbitals located along
the coordinate axes experience stronger
repulsions and increase in energy
• the electrons in the d orbitals 45o from the
coordinate axes experience weaker
repulsions and decrease in energy
• The energy difference between the two sets
of orbitals is the crystal field splitting ()
– Depends on the nature of metal and
ligands
– Determines color and magnetic
properties

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Crystal Field Splitting in an Octahedral Complex

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• Color
– As with reflected light, transmitted light (i.e.,
the light that passes through the medium,
such as a solution) of selected wavelengths is
responsible for color.
• The color of observed light is the
complementary color the light absorbed.
• For example, a solution of CuSO4 absorbs
light in the orange region of the spectrum
and therefore appears blue.

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Color Wheel: Diagonal Complementary Colors

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– Relation to 
hc hc
E  h    h 
 
– The amount of energy, , to promote an
electron from lower energy d orbitals to higher
energy d orbitals

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– Spectroscopic measurements of  allow an
ordering of ligands ability to split the d orbitals
called a spectrochemical series.

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 Spectrochemical Series

increasing

weak field ligand strong field ligand

small  large 

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• Magnetic Properties
– The magnitude of the crystal field splitting
also determines the magnetic properties of a
complex ion
– The electron configuration of the ion is a
balance between
• Energy to promote an electron to a higher
energy d orbital – related to the magnitude
of 
• Stability gained by maximum number of
unpaired spins

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– Small values of  favor maximum number of
unpaired spin
• High spin complexes
• F- is low on spectrochemical series

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– Large values of  are unfavorable for
promotion
• Low spin complexes
• CN- is high on the spectrochemical series

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Orbital Diagrams for Specific d Orbital Configurations

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• Tetrahedral and square planar complexes
– Proximity of the ligands to d orbitals changes
with the geometry of the complex
– d electrons in orbitals more closely associated
with the lone pairs of ligand electrons attain
higher energies
– Splitting patterns reflect this repulsion

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Crystal Field Splitting with a Tetrahedral Geometry

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Crystal Field Splitting with a Square Planar Geometry

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How many unpaired electrons are in [Mn(H2O)6]2+?

Hint: H2O is a weak field ligand.

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Mn2+ has an electron configuration of
d5. Because H2O is a weak-field ligand, we
expect [Mn(H2O)6]2+ to be a high-spin
complex. All five electrons will be placed in
In separate orbitals before any pairing
occurs.There will be a total of five unpaired
spins.

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 22.4 Reactions of Coordination
Compounds
• Complex ions undergo ligand exchange
(or substitution) reactions in solution.
– Example: Exchange of NH3 with H2O

– Rates of exchange reactions vary widely

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– Exchange reactions are characterized by
• Thermodynamic stability – measured by Kf
– Large Kf values indicate stability
– Small Kf values indicate instability
• Kinetic lability – tendency to react
– Labile complexes undergo rapid
exchange
– Inert complexes undergo slow exchange
• Thermodynmically stable complexes can
be labile or inert

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 22.5 Applications of Coordination
Compounds
• Metallurgy – extraction by complex
formation
• Chelation therapy – removal of toxins by
chelation
• Chemotherapy – use of complexes to
inhibit the growth of cancer cells

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Mechanism of Cisplatin in Chemotherapy

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• Chemical analysis – used in both
qualitative and quantitative analysis
– Example: dimethylgloxime (DMG) in nickel
analysis

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• Detergents
– Chelating agents (tripolyphosphates) to
complex divalent ions associated with water
hardness
– Environmental impact – eutrophication from
phosphates
• Sequestrants (Example: EDTA)
– Agents to complex metal ions that catalyze
oxidation reactions in foods

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 Key Points
• Coordination Compounds
– Properties of transition metals
• d subshell configuration
• Color
• Varaible oxidation state
• Formation of complex ions
– Ligands
• Types
• Coodination number
• Chelating agents

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 – Nomenclature of coordination compounds
• Structure of coodination compounds
– Geometric isomers
– Optical isomers
• Polarimetry
• Enantiomers
• Racemic mixtures
• Bonding in coordination compounds
– Crystal field splitting
• Octahedral complexes
• Tetrahedral and Square planar complexes

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 – Color
– Magnetic properties
• Reactions of coordination compounds
– Exchange reactions
– Thermodynamic stability and kinetic lability
• Applications of coordination compounds

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