Applications of Coordination Complexes

Applications and roles for new metal coordination complexes continue to be discovered daily. Coordination complexes in the development of new architectural materials such as nanostructures and in environmental applications (e.g., green catalysts and bioremediation Chapter 7) are on the frontiers of inorganic chemistry in the twenty-first century however, even these exciting and splashy new systems remain governed by the fundamentals of metal ion chemistry. Advancements in applied fields cannot be fully realized without the knowledge imparted by pure and basic research, especially as metal ions are placed in novel environments. 

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This volume aims to give as complete a coverage of the real and possible applications of coordination complexes as is possible in a single volume. It is far more wide-ranging in its coverage than the related volume on applications in the first edition of CCC (1987). 

The chapters cover the following areas (i) use of coordination complexes in all types of catalysis (Chapters 1-11) (ii) applications related to the optical properties of coordination complexes, which covers fields as diverse as solar cells, nonlinear optics, display devices, pigments and dyes, and optical data storage (Chapters 12-16) (iii) hydrometallurgical extraction (Chapter 17) (iv) medicinal and biomedical applications of coordination complexes, including both imaging and therapy (Chapters 18-22) and (v) use of coordination complexes as precursors to semiconductor films and nanoparticles (Chapter 23). As such, the material in this volume ranges from solid-state physics to biochemistry. 

The photographic industry continues to dominate in the industrial applications of silver complexes, especially in relation to halogen compounds, and a vast amount of literature each year is concerned with this field. Photographic applications of coordination complexes are covered separately in Chapter 59 and will not be dealt with in depth here. 

Medically-related applications of coordination complexes include use in bioassay, diagnostic imaging and as drugs. 

This index contains over 25 000 entries to the 6562 text pages of Volumes 1-6. The index covers general types of coordination complex, specific coordination complexes, general and specific organic compounds where their synthesis or use involves coordination complexes, types of reaction (insertion, oxidative addition, etc.), spectroscopic techniques (NMR, IR, etc.), and other topics involving coordination complexes, such as medicinal and industrial applications. 

Application of coordination compounds in medicine, materials chemistry, and as catalysts are mentioned and are cross-referenced to a fuller discussion in Volume 9. Comment is made on application of complexes in nanotechnology, and on the molecular modeling of complexes. The material cannot be totally comprehensive because of space limitations, but is selected in such a way to give the most effective review of discoveries and new interpretations. 

This volume presents a survey of significant developments in the chemistry of Groups 7 and 8 of the transition metals since the publication of Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry (CCC) in 1987. The material for each element is organized by oxidation state of the metal and also by the nature of the ligands involved, with additional sections covering special features of the coordination chemistry and applications of the complexes. 

Thirdly, some obvious applications of coordination chemistry are omitted from this volume if they are better treated elsewhere. This is the case when a specific application is heavily associated with one particular element or group of elements, to the extent that the application is more appropriately discussed in the section on that element. Essentially all of the coordination chemistry of technetium, for example, relates to its use in radioimmunoimaging inclusion of this in Chapter 20 of this volume would have left the chapter on technetium in Volume 5 almost empty. For the same reason, the applications of actinide coordination complexes to purification, recovery,... 

Important aspects of the coordination chemistry of binary chalcogen-nitrogen ligands include (a) the ability of metals to stabilize labile neutral and anionic binary S-N ligands, (b) the applications of metal complexes as reagents for the preparation of other S-N compounds, and (c) the possible incorporation of metals into sulfur-nitrogen chains to produce conducting materials. 

The chemistry of ruthenium has been reviewed in COMC (1982) and COMC (1995)338 339 as well as in Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry II. More recent reviews summarize the synthesis, properties, and applications of diruthenium tetracarboxylates341 as well as ruthenium catalysis in organic synthesis in general.342 Most recent developments and applications of ruthenium complexes in organic synthesis have been reviewed up to 2004.343... 

Until recently the most popular method in asymmetric catalysis was the application of metal complexes. This is not surprising, since the use of different metals, ligands and oxidation states makes it possible to tune selectivity and perform asymmetric induction very easily. Thus, the concept of asymmetric catalysis has become almost synonymous with the use of metals coordinated by chiral ligands [1,2]. In many examples the metal is a Lewis acid [3]. 

As regards other coordination compounds of silver, electrochemical synthesis of metallic (e.g. Ag and Cu) complexes of bidentate thiolates containing nitrogen as an additional donor atom has been described by Garcia-Vasquez etal. [390]. Also Marquez and Anacona [391] have prepared and electrochemically studied sil-ver(I) complex of heptaaza quinquedentate macrocyclic ligand. It has been shown that the reversible one-electron oxidation wave at -1-0.75 V (versus Ag AgBF4) corresponds to the formation of a ligand-radical cation. Other applications of coordination silver compounds in electrochemistry include, for example, a reference electrode for aprotic media based on Ag(I) complex with cryptand 222, proposed by Lewandowski etal. [392]. Potential of this electrode was less sensitive to the impurities and the solvent than the conventional Ag/Ag+ electrode. 

The present volume is a non-thematic issue and includes seven contributions. The first chapter byAndreja Bakac presents a detailed account of the activation of dioxygen by transition metal complexes and the important role of atom transfer and free radical chemistry in aqueous solution. The second contribution comes from Jose Olabe, an expert in the field of pentacyanoferrate complexes, in which he describes the redox reactivity of coordinated ligands in such complexes. The third chapter deals with the activation of carbon dioxide and carbonato complexes as models for carbonic anhydrase, and comes from Anadi Dash and collaborators. This is followed by a contribution from Sasha Ryabov on the transition metal chemistry of glucose oxidase, horseradish peroxidase and related enzymes. In chapter five Alexandra Masarwa and Dan Meyerstein present a detailed report on the properties of transition metal complexes containing metal-carbon bonds in aqueous solution. Ivana Ivanovic and Katarina Andjelkovic describe the importance of hepta-coordination in complexes of 3d transition metals in the subsequent contribution. The final chapter by Sally Brooker and co-workers is devoted to the application of lanthanide complexes as luminescent biolabels, an exciting new area of development. 

Solvated transition metal cations containing weakly bonded organic ligands are potentially useful as intermediates in preparative coordination chemistry. The coordinated solvent molecules provide solubility of the compounds in various organic solvents, and they can be replaced readily by other ligands with better donor properties.1, 2 The preparation of mononuclear transition metal complexes with weakly bonded anions has been described previously3 and preparative applications of such complexes have been reviewed.4... 

Latent images or faint images in silver metal or other materials can be amplified by redox chemistries other than metal deposition. Several dye-forming redox chemistries have been discovered in which metal complexes serve as catalysts, catalyst precursors or one of the redox partners. The applications of coordination compounds in physical development and image amplification systems are therefore quite broad and diverse. 

Several simple models exist5 that approximately describe the temperature dependence of x for transition metal cations that do not represent spin-only centers. As one example that is applicable to coordination complexes at low temperatures, the Kotani theory6 incorporates the effects of spin-orbit coupling into the Van Vleck equation and describes y(T) as a function of the spin-orbit coupling energy C,. 

Coordination compounds have become very usable in medicine [361-364]. In this respect, use of metal complexes (mostly those of lanthanides) as diagnostic [365-367] and anticancer [368-370] media should be specially emphasized. Among the last complexes, the aminoplatinum-containing compounds play an important role, so the structural study of platinum complexes as a model of nucleobases [371] is a topic of renewed interest. The new issue of Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry II [372] contains a wide description of nanoparticles (vols. 6 and 7), biocoordination chemistry (vol. 8), and other aspects of application of coordination compounds. 

The application of organometallic complexes and moieties in life science, in general, or in radiopharmacy, in particular, is very recent. Still, bioorganometal-lic chemistry is progressing very fast since it offers an attractive and challenging topic besides the pathway of using classical coordination compounds. Clearly, novelty is not a sufficient argument to work in a field however,... 

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