Are the coordination numbers just inside of brackets? [ENDORSED]

[Lindsey Lill]

Say you have a compound like Li[Ni(CN)3(en)(NH3)]. Would the coordination number just be 5 because it only counts inside of the brackets? Or would the Li outside the bracket be counted too so it's 6?

[Khang_Tran_1O]

Hi,

The coordination number is just what is inside the bracket!

[Natalie Hunt 1E]

I believe that the coordination number on that one is 6 because there are three bonds from the (CN)3, two bonds from the (en), and one bond from the (NH3) for a total of 6. So 6 ligand bonds give a coordination number of 6.

[Hector_Gutierrez 1J]

So what about another example, like [Fe(ox)(CO)2(NH3)]H2O for instance. What would be the coordination number?

[JAC_2016]

@Hector_Gutierrez the coordination number for [Fe(ox)(CO)2(NH3)]H2O would seem to be 5 because NH3 has one bond, there are two bonds for CO and the ox also has two bonds, but I'm not too sure because I know that there are usually just 4 or 6 bonds.