Week 9 Q 6 Achieve

[805754009]

On this question, we are asked to give the coordination number for the metal species. The complex at hand is [Co(en)2(CO)2]Br. Why is the coordination number for Co 6 and not 4?

[Kaira Shibata 1E]

en is able to bond to the Co in 2 spots as it is bidenate. With this in mind, you can see that 2 en=4 sites and 2 CO=2 sites and then 4+2=6.

[Katie 3H]

but how does 2 en end up to 4 sites?

[Crystal Ma 2J]

en is bidentate so it can bond to two spots!

[Jonathan Liu 2I]

There are two nitrogen atom in each en molecule, which makes the molecule a bidentate, binding at two spots. This makes it have a 6 coordination number.

[Iman Gauhar 3E]

Since the coordination number is the number of atoms, molecules, or ions bonded the the central atom, you would count 4 bonding sites from the en and 2 sites from the (CO). There are 4 bonding sites from the en because it is bidentate.