Chelating Complexes 9C.7

[Mariyam Oladele 1E]

How can I tell which isomers of diaminobenzene can form chelating complexes?

[905994971]

For diaminobenzene, the isomer that can form a chelating complex is the one that has the two binding sites with only two carbons between them. If you follow bonds of the molecule, you can count how many bonds/carbons are in between the two lone pairs of the amine groups that can bind to a metal. They have to be close enough together that they can bind to two different sites on the same metal ion. This means they also have to be far enough apart to do the same. Thus atoms such as oxygen that have two lone pairs can't act like chelating complexes because they wouldn't be able to bind to do different spots on the metal.