What are Coordination Compounds?
Coordination Compounds are chemical compounds in which the central metal atom or ion is attached to the number of oppositely charged or neutral atoms more than its normal valency. The coordination compounds are formed by the combination of two or more simple and stable compounds that retain their identities. The central atom is usually a transition metal due to its nature of exhibiting variable valency properties as they have the presence of incompletely filled d-orbitals.
The Central Metal Atom has two types of valencies namely primary valency and secondary valency. The primary valency tells the oxidation number and the secondary valency tells about the coordination number. The d-block transition element to which negative or neutral molecules are attached is called the central atom and the neutral atom or the anion attached to the central atom is called ligand. The central atom and the ligand are written inside a square bracket and are often called Coordination Complexes. Coordination Compounds differ from Double Salt in the manner that double salt dissociates on dissolution while Coordination Compounds don’t.
Coordination Compound Examples
Let’s understand more about coordination compounds with the help of a few examples:
In [Co(NH3)6]Cl3 the central atom is Cobalt(Co), to which six neutral molecules of NH3 are attached which is called a ligand. These are attached to Co with primary valency and hence written inside the square bracket and the Cl3 which is written outside is the counter ion attached to the coordination complex that consists of [Co(NH3)6]3+ via secondary valency.
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Isomerism in Coordination Compounds
Isomerism in Coordination Compounds as the name suggests explores the concept of Isomerism in Coordination Compounds i.e., generally compounds formed by d-block elements. Isomerism is the phenomenon of exhibiting different molecular structures by the compounds with same molecular formula. The phenomenon of isomerism is quite significant in hydrocarbons however it is of no less importance in coordination compounds. Coordination Compounds are those chemical compounds in which a group of anions is attached to a central metal atom via covalent bonds. Coordinate compounds are also called coordinate complexes. The coordinate compounds having the same molecular formula but different arrangements of ligands are called isomers of coordination compounds and the phenomenon exhibited is called Isomerism in Coordination Compounds. In this article, we will learn about different types of isomerism exhibited by Coordination Compounds in detail.