Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 15, 2026
Accessing Valuable Ligand Supports for Transition Metals: A Modified, Intermediate Scale Preparation of 1,2,3,4,5-Pentamethylcyclopentadiene
Published on: March 20, 2017
Exploring early transition metal coordination: a synthetic and computational study of tripodal ligand complexes
Jewelianna M Moore1, Brennan M Vaught1, Tabitha J Miller2
1Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA. fout@tamu.edu.
Abstract:
A series of early transition metal complexes supported by the tripodal ligand tris(5-cyclohexylimminopyrrol-2-ylmethyl)amine (N(piCy)3) were synthesized and characterized to investigate their structural and electronic properties. Complexes of titanium, vanadium, chromium, and molybdenum reveal diverse coordination geometries and highlight the influence of metal identity on geometry. Spectroscopic and computational analyses demonstrate predictable periodic trends in metal-ligand bond lengths. These results underscore the structural versatility of the N(piCy)3 ligand and its utility in supporting a range of early transition metal centers.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
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...
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...
02:42Valence Bond Theory
02:57Coordination Number and Geometry
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...
02:52Stereoisomerism
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...