Achieve #2

[Sarai B]

Hello,
I am a little confused on how to classify the coordination compounds according to the coordination number. Can someone please explain it? Thank you.

[Claire Lewis]

The coordination number is the number of bonds attached to the transition metal. What I do is I count the number of subscripts on each ligand.
For example, [HgI3]- has a coordination # of 3 because there are 3 bonds, one between each I and the Hg.
K3[CoF6] will have a coordination # of 6 because there are 6 bonds attached to the transition metal, Co.

[Nicole Coulter]

Hi, so the coordination number is the number of atoms/molecules attached to the transition metal atom. The transitional metal atom will be within the brackets, and so will the ligands. Anything outside of these brackets is outside of the "coordination sphere" so will not be directly attached to the transition metal. Within one bracket for example could be [Fe NH3)2], is this case the coordination compound would be 2 since there are 2 ammines (NH3) molecule inside the coordination sphere and therefore attached to the iron (Fe).

[Maximillian Ryan 2K]

To determine the coordination number of the metal atom in the question, first determine how electron pairs have been donated to that atom by ligand molecules. In this question all the ligands are monodentate, and donate one pair of electrons, so it is a simple process to determine the coordination number, by simply looking at the number of ligands bound to the metal in the brackets.