Polydentate

[Edmond Chu 1C]

Does polydentate mean everything except monodentate? How would you know how many places on the ligand can bind simultaneously to a single metal center?

[Ellen Brock 2I]

I am a little confused on your question so hopefully I answer it or help a little. But polydentate essentially means "many teeth" according to Lavelle. We know that a ligand is a polydentate because we can see that it has the ability to attach to the metal center with more than one bond. Another way this can be said is that the ligand has multiple electron donors. For a monodentate that is not the case, it is just singular in those aspects. I believe I read that it is more common to see monodentate however.

[605721741]

Ligand can be bidentate, tridentate, or polydentate!