Polydentate

[Chelsea Zeng 4E]

On one of the homework problem, the question asks: Which of the following ligands can be polydentate? If the ligand can be polydentate, give the maximum number of places on the ligand that can bind simultaneously to a single metal center.
a.) HN(CH2CH2NH2) b.) CO3^2- c.) H2O d.) oxalate

For this problem, how do I identify whether or not it's polydentate?

Thanks!! :)

[Chem_Mod]

A polydentate is any ligand that basically isn't a monodentate.That is including if the ligand is a bidentate, monodentate, or even a hexadentate. You can tell the denticity of a a ligand through it's lewis structure but mainly you just have to rember the few polydentates porfessor Lavelle gave you in the coursereader. So out of the following a.) 2HNCH2CH2NH2 (bidentate) b.) CO3^2- (monodentate) c.) H2O (monodentate) d.) oxalate (bidentate), a and d are polydentates

Hope this helps :)