Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 29, 2026
Visualizing Uniaxial-strain Manipulation of Antiferromagnetic Domains in Fe1+YTe Using a Spin-polarized Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Published on: March 24, 2019
Heterobimetallic complexes containing Ca-Fe or Yb-Fe bonds: synthesis and molecular and electronic structures of
Matthew P Blake1, Nikolas Kaltsoyannis, Philip Mountford
1Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, UK.
Abstract:
Reaction of calcium or ytterbium amalgam with [CpFe(CO)(2)](2) (Fp(2)) gave the isostructural heavy alkaline earth or divalent rare earth compounds [MFp(2)(THF)(3)](2) (M = Ca or Yb) containing two direct Ca-Fe (3.0185(6) Å) or Yb-Fe (2.9892(4) Å) bonds. Density functional theory supports experiment in finding shorter Yb-Fe than Ca-Fe distances, and Ziegler-Rauk, molecular orbital, and atoms-in-molecules analyses find the M-Fe bonding to be predominantly electrostatic in nature. The Yb-Fe interaction energy and bond critical point electron density are slightly larger than for Ca-Fe, in agreement with the shorter M-Fe bond in the former. The corresponding reaction for magnesium gave MgFp(2)(THF)(4) with two O-bound Fp moieties and no Mg-Fe bond.
Related Concept Videos
03:02Colors and Magnetism
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human eye.
02:42Valence Bond Theory
02:58Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
02:46Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than the dxy,...
02:51Metal-Ligand Bonds
In these complexes, transition metals form coordinate covalent bonds, a kind of Lewis acid-base interaction in which both of the electrons in the bond are contributed by a donor (Lewis base) to an electron acceptor (Lewis acid). The Lewis acid in...
01:23Properties of Organometallic Compounds