coordination compounds

[michelle vooskanian 3F]

do we have to find the oxidation state every time or is there something we need to look for specifically to find the oxidation state?

[Austin Cortes 1E]

For coordination compounds, we're usually asked to find the oxidation state of the Transition Metal (TM). When finding the oxidation state, from the formula of the compound, you first look to see if the compound has an overall charge. Let's say there's a compound with zero (0) charge. If the compound has 2 ligands that each have a 1- charge, then the oxidation state of the TM would have to be (II) or +2 in order to maintain a net zero charge on the compound. It is helpful to either memorize the charges of ligands or to draw the lewis structures to find their charges.

[marcelnajjar]

do we have to find the oxidation state every time or is there something we need to look for specifically to find the oxidation state?

We are usually specifically asked to find the oxidation state of the transitional metal in the molecular formula and the other oxidation states are given so we use those in order to find the one of the transition metal.