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Updated: Jul 27, 2025

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Published on: October 18, 2019
An osmium(II) methane complex: Elucidation of the methane coordination mode
Peter J Sempsrott1, Brian B Trinh1, Charity Flener Lovitt1,2
1School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 600 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Abstract:
The activation of inert C─H bonds by transition metals is of considerable industrial and academic interest, but important gaps remain in our understanding of this reaction. We report the first experimental determination of the structure of the simplest hydrocarbon, methane, when bound as a ligand to a homogenous transition metal species. We find that methane binds to the metal center in this system through a single M···H-C bridge; changes in the 1JCH coupling constants indicate clearly that the structure of the methane ligand is significantly perturbed relative to the free molecule. These results are relevant to the development of better C─H functionalization catalysts.
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Structural Isomerism
Isomers are different chemical species that have the same chemical formula. Structural isomerism of coordination compounds can be divided into two subcategories, the linkage isomers and coordination-sphere isomers.
Linkage isomers occur when the coordination compound contains a ligand that can bind to the transition metal center through two different atoms. For example, the CN− ligand can bind through the carbon atom or through the nitrogen atom. Similarly, SCN− can...
Resonance
Stereoisomerism
Isomers are different chemical species that have the same chemical formula.
Transition metal complexes often exist as geometric isomers, in which the same atoms are connected through the same types of bonds but with differences in their orientation in space. Coordination complexes with two different ligands in the cis and trans positions from a ligand of interest form isomers. For example, the octahedral [Co(NH3)4Cl2]+ ion has two isomers (Figure 1) In the cis...