Chelates

[Grace Lee 3G]

How do ligands "form a ring of atoms"?

[Ramya Natarajan 1D]

So if you have two or more ligands that are bidentate, or can attach to more than one site, and these ligands are next to each other, then another central atom can create a bond with these two to form a chelate. A chelate will create a ring with the original coordinate compound. I recommend looking at the solution for 17.35, the graphic there is really helpful to illustrate what I'm saying.

[404995677]

I think polydentates, which are ligands that bind to the transition metal or central atom more than once, so I think specifically bidentates create a "ring of atoms"