Nomenclature of Coordination Complexes

Please follow this order

[Metal Anions Neutrals]Charge, Ligands Metal(Oxidation State).

while

names

are

written Prefix

According to the Lewis base theory, ligands are Lewis bases since they can donate electrons to the central metal atom. The metals, in turn, are Lewis acids since they accept electrons. Coordination complexes consist of a ligand and a metal center cation. The overall charge can be positive, negative, or neutral. Coordination compounds are complex or contain complex ions:

Complex Cation: [CO(NH3)6]3+ Complex Anion: [CoCl4(NH3)2]Neutral Complex: [CoCl3(NH3)3] Coordination Compound: K4[Fe(CN)6]
A ligand can be an anion or a neutral molecule that donates an electron pair to the complex. Ex: NH3, H2O, Cl-. The number of ligands that attach to a metal depends on whether the ligand is monodentate, bidentate, or polydentate.

Naming Coordination Complexes

To begin naming coordination complexes, here are some things to keep in mind. 1. Ligands are named first in alphabetical order. 2. The name of the metal comes next. 3. The oxidation state of the metal follows, noted by a Roman numeral in parentheses (II, IV).

Rules for Naming the Ligands

1. Ligands that act as anions which end in "-ide" are replaced with an ending "-o" (e.g., Chloride Chloro). Anions ending with "-ite" and "-ate" are replaced with endings "-ito" and "-ato" respectively (e.g., Nitrite Nitrito, Nitrate Nitrato). Anionic Monodentate Ligands F
-

Fluoro Chloro Bromo Iodo Oxo Cyano Isocyano

-

OHSO4
2-

Hydroxo Sulfato Thiosulfato Nitrito-N-; Nitro Nitrito-O-; Nitrito Thiocyanato-S-; Thiocyanato Thiocyanato-N-; Isothiocyanato

Cl I

Br
-

O2CN NC-

S2O32-NO2ONO SCN NCS

-

2. Most neutral molecules that are ligands carry their normal name. The few exceptions are the first four on the chart: ammine, aqua, carbonyl, and nitrosyl.

Neutral Monodentate Ligands NH3 H2O CO NO CH3NH2 C5H5N Ammine Aqua Carbonyl Nitrosyl Methylamine Pyridine

(Note: Ammine is spelled with two m's when referring to a ligand. Amines are something else.) Polydentate ligands follow the same rules for anions and neutral molecules.

en ox
24-

Ethylenediamine Oxalato Ethylenediaminetetraacetato

EDTA

3. The number of ligands present in the complex is indicated with the prefixes di, tri, etc. The exceptions are polydentates that have a prefix already in their name (en and EDTA4- are the most common). When indicating how many of these are present in a coordination complex, put the ligand's name in parentheses and use bis, tris, and tetrakis.

Normal 1 2 3 4 5 6 mono di tri tetra penta hexa

Polydentates bis tris tetrakis -

Prefixes always go before the ligand name; they are not taken into account when putting ligands in alphabetical order. Note that "mono" often is not used. For example, [FeCl(CO)2(NH3)3]2+ would be called triamminechlorodicarbonyliron(III) ion. Remember that ligands are always named first, before the metal is.

LET ME GIVE YOU SOME MORE EXAMPLES HOPE THAT WILL HELP YOU

Example
[CrCl2(H2O)4]+ Let's start by identifying the ligands. The ligands here are Cl and H 2O. Therefore, we will use the monodentate ligand names of "chloro" and "aqua". Alphabetically, aqua comes before chloro, so this will be their order in the complex's name. There are 4 aqua's and 2 chloro's, so we will add the number prefixes before the names. Since both are monodentate ligands, we will say "tetra[aqua]di[chloro]". Now that the ligands are named, we will name the metal itself. The metal is Cr, which

is chromium. Therefore, this coordination complex is called tetraaquadichlorochromium(III) ion. <-See the next section for an explanation of the (III).

Example 2
[CoCl2(en)2]+ We take the same approach. There are two chloro and ethylenediamine ligands. The metal is Co, cobalt. We follow the same steps, except that en is a polydentate ligand with a prefix in its name (ethylenediamine), so "bis" is used instead of "bi", and parentheses are added. Therefore, this coordination complex is called dichlorobis(ethylenediamine)cobalt(III) ion.
Rules for Naming the Metal Center & Oxidation State

When naming the metal center, you must know the formal metal name and the oxidation state. To show the oxidation state, we use Roman numerals inside parenthesis. For example, in the problems above, chromium and cobalt have the oxidation state of +3, so that is why they have (III) after them. Copper, with an oxidation state of +2 , is denoted as copper(II). If the overall coordination complex is an anion, the ending "-ate" is attached to the metal center. Some metals also change to their Latin names in this situation. Copper +2 will change into cuprate(II). The following change to their Latin names when part of an anion complex:

Transition Metal Iron Copper Tin Silver Lead Gold

Latin Ferrate Cuprate Stannate Argentate Plumbate Aurate

The rest of the metals simply have -ate added to the end (cobaltate, nickelate, zincate, osmate, cadmate, platinate, mercurate, etc. Note that the -ate tends to replace -um or -ium, if present). Finally, when a complex has an overall charge, "ion" is written after it. This is not necessary if it is neutral or part of a coordination compound (see EX 3). Here are some examples with determining oxidation states, naming a metal in an anion complex, and naming coordination compounds.

Example 3
EX1: [Cr(OH)4]- Immediately we know that this complex is an anion. There is only one monodentate ligand, hydroxide. There are four of them, so we will use the name "tetrahydroxo". The metal is chromium, but since the complex is an anion, we will have to use the "-ate" ending, yielding "chromate". The oxidation state of the metal is 3 (hint: x+(1)4=-1). Write this with Roman numerals and parentheses (III) and place it after the metal to get tetrahydroxochromate(III) ion.

Example 4
EX2: [CuCl4]2- Try this one on your own. If you got tetrachlorocuprate(II) ion, you are correct. A last little side note: when naming a coordination compound, it is important that you name the cation first, then the anion. You base this on the charge of the ligand. Think of NaCl. Na, the positive cation, comes first and Cl, the negative anion, follows.

Example 5
EX3: [Pt(NH3)4)][Pt(Cl)4] NH3 is neutral, making the first complex positively charged overall. Cl has a -1 charge, making the second

complex the anion. Therefore, you will write the complex with NH3 first, followed by the one with Cl (the same order as the formula). This coordination compound is called tetraammineplatinum(II) tetrachloroplatinate(II). Distinguishing between linkage isomers: EX4: [CoCl(NO2)(NH3)4]+ This coordination complex is called tetraamminechloronitrito-N-cobalt(III). N comes before the O in the symbol for the nitrite ligand, so it is called nitrito-N. If an O came first, as in [CoCl(ONO)(NH3)4]+, the ligand would be called nitrito-O, yielding the name tetraamminechloronitrito-O-cobalt(III). Nitro (for NO2) and nitrito (for ONO) can also be used to describe the nitrite ligand, yielding the names tetraamminechloronitrocobalt(III) and tetraamminechloronitritocobalt(III).

Writing Formulas of Coordination Complexes

Given Name Write Formula The formula of a coordination complex is written in a different order than its name. The chemical symbol of the metal center is written first. The ligands are written next, with anion ligands coming before neutral ligands. If there is more than one anion or neutral ligand, they are written in alphabetical order according to the first letter in their chemical formula.

In a coordination compound's name, when one of the ions is just an element, the number of atoms is not indicated with a prefix. Since it still has to be written in the formula, it is determined by balancing the overall charge of the compound. (For example, tetrafluorochromium(VI) chloride becomes [CrF4]Cl2. See EX4 for practice.)

Here are some examples:

Example 6
EX1: Amminetetraaquachromium(II) ion would be written as +2 [Cr(H2O)4(NH3)] . Both ligands are neutral, so they are ordered alphabetically with H2O before NH3. (Their order in the formula is the opposite of that in the complex's name since one uses their chemical symbols and the other uses the names of the ligands.) EX2: Amminesulfatochromium(II) is written as [Cr(SO4)(NH3)]. SO4 is an anion, so it comes before NH3. EX3: Amminetetraaquachromium(II) sulfate -> Try this on your own. Did you get [Cr(H2O)4(NH3)]SO4? If you did, you are correct. EX4: Potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) -> Try this on your own. Did you get K3[Fe(CN)6]? Remember to balance the K! HOPE ALL THIS HELPED YOU DEAR STUDENTS Pravin negi