D-block compounds

The compounds of the t/block elements show a wide range of interesting properties. Some are vital to life. Iron is an essential component of mammalian blood. Compounds of cobalt, molybdenum, and zinc are found in vitamins and essential enzymes. Other compounds simply make life more interesting and colorful. The beautiful color of cobalt blue glass, the brilliant greens and blues of kiln-baked pottery, and many pigments used by artists make use of d-block compounds. 

The L and S values are those from which the / value was formed via the vector coupling rule. These formulae strictly apply only for the magnetism of free-ion levels. They provide a good aproximation for the magnetism of lanthanide complexes, as we shall note in Chapter 10, but provide no useful account of the magnetic properties of d block compounds. 

Pauling further extended the sp"dm hybridization approach to the d-block compounds.3 By varying the relative importance of p and d orbitals, Pauling was able to construct hybrid orbitals that rationalized the geometries and magnetic properties of many transition-metal coordination complexes. For example, the square-planar... 

A robust generalization of Bent s rule for d-block compounds can be based on the following simple argument (cf. Section 3.2.6) increased electronegativity of ligand X in an MH X compound may be considered equivalent to a higher admixture of... 

The organometallic chemistry of lanthanides is much more limited than in the d block. Compounds such as (C5H5)3Ln and (C5H5)2LnX (X = Cl, H, etc.) have more ionic character than for transition elements,... 

In lanthanide elements, the 5s and 5p shells are on the outside of the 4f shell. The 5s and 5p electrons are shielded, any force field (the crystal field or coordinating field in crystals or complexes) of the surrounding elements in complexes have little effect on the electrons in the 4f shell of the lanthanide elements. Therefore, the absorption spectra of lanthanide compounds are line-like spectra similar to those of free ions. This is different from the absorption spectra of d-block compounds. In d-block compounds, spectra originate from 3d 3d transitions. The nd shell is on the outside of the atoms so no shielding effect exists. Therefore, the 3d electrons are easily affected by crystal or coordinating fields. As a result, d-block elements show different absorption spectra in different compounds. Because of a shift in the spectrum line in the d-block, absorption spectra change from line spectra in free ions to band spectra in compounds. 

In the case of transition metal complexes, the CNDO theory was first applied by Dahl and Ballhausen [24] to MnO,. Their scheme was later extended to INDO by Ziegler [25] and implemented into the general package ODIN [26], Better known is the INDO program ZINDO [27] by M. Zemer and the NDDO implementation due to D.S. Marynick [28]. Both have been applied with some success in transition metal chemistry for structure determination and studies of excited states. Attempts have also been made to extend AMI, PM3 and MNDO to transition metals. All in all it must be said that the methods based on integral approximations have been more prolific in studies of main group compounds than transition metal complexes. The reason for that is likely the considerable extra complexity added by the -orbitals combined with the fact that other attractive schemes are available for d-block compounds. 

Attempts to classify carbides according to structure or bond type meet the same difficulties as were encountered with hydrides (p. 64) and borides (p. 145) and for the same reasons. The general trends in properties of the three groups of compounds are, however, broadly similar, being most polar (ionic) for the electropositive metals, most covalent (molecular) for the electronegative non-metals and somewhat complex (interstitial) for the elements in the centre of the d block. There are also several elements with poorly characterized, unstable, or non-existent carbides, namely the later transition elements (Groups 11 and 12), the platinum metals, and the post transition-metal elements in Group 13. 

Green MLH, Green JC (In preparation) Systematic chemistry of covalent compounds of the d-block transition metals Seddon EA, Seddon KR (1984) The chemistry of ruthenium, Elsevier, Amsterdam... 

Many metallic elements in the p and d blocks, have atoms that can lose a variable number of electrons. As we saw in Section 1.19, the inert-pair effect implies that the elements listed in Fig. 1.57 can lose either their valence p-electrons alone or all their valence p- and s-electrons. These elements and the d-block metals can form different compounds, such as tin(II) oxide, SnO, and tin(IV) oxide, Sn02, for tin. The ability of an element to form ions with different charges is called variable valence. 

The interstitial carbides are compounds formed by the direct reaction of a d-block metal and carbon at temperatures above 2000°C. In these compounds, the C atoms occupy the gaps between the metal atoms, as do the H atoms in metallic hydrides (see Fig. 14.9). Here, however, the C atoms pin the metal atoms together into a rigid structure, resulting in very hard substances with melting points often well above 3000°C. Tungsten carbide, WC, is used for the cutting surfaces of drills, and iron carbide, FesC, is an important component of steel. 

Carbon forms ionic carbides with the metals of Groups 1 and 2, covalent carbides with nonmetals, and interstitial carbides with d-block metals. Silicon compounds are more reactive than carbon compounds. They can act as Lewis acids. 

Why Do We Need to Know This Material The d-block metals are the workhorse elements of the periodic table. Iron and copper helped civilization rise from the Stone Age and are still our most important industrial metals. Other members of the block include the metals of new technologies, such as titanium for the aerospace industry and vanadium for catalysts in the petrochemical industry. The precious metals—silver, platinum, and gold—are prized as much for their appearance, rarity, and durability as for their usefulness. Compounds of d-block metals give color to paint, turn sunlight into electricity, serve as powerful oxidizing agents, and form the basis of some cancer treatments. 

The Industrial Revolution was made possible by iron in the form of steel, an alloy used for construction and transportation. Other d-block metals, both as the elements and in compounds, are transforming our present. Copper, for instance, is an essential component of some superconductors. Vanadium and platinum are used in the development of catalysts to reduce pollution and in the continuing effort to make hydrogen the fuel of our future. 

We begin this chapter by summarizing the major periodic trends exhibited by the t/block elements and their compounds. Then we describe some of the properties and key reactions of selected elements. The d-block metals form a wide variety of complexes and, in the second half of the chapter, we describe their structures and the two principal theories of their bonding. We end the chapter by examining the contribution of d-block elements to some important modern materials. 

The incompletely filled d-subshell is responsible for the wide range of colors shown by compounds of the d-block elements. Furthermore, many d-metal compounds are paramagnetic (see Box 3.2). One of the challenges that we face in this chapter is to build a model of bonding that accounts for color and magnetism in a unified way. First, though, we consider the physical and chemical properties of the elements themselves. 

The range of oxidation states of a d-block element increases toward the center of the block. Compounds in which the d-block element has a high oxidation state tend to be oxidizing those in which it has a low oxidation state tend to be reducing. The acidic character of oxides increases with the oxidation state of the element. 

Like some other d-block metals, such as nickel, iron can form compounds in which its oxidation number is zero. For example, when iron is heated in carbon monoxide, it reacts to form iron pentacarbonyl, Fe(CO)5, a yellow molecular liquid that boils at 103°C. 

Many other shapes are possible for complexes. The simplest are linear, with coordination number 2. An example is dimethylmercury(O), Hg(CI l,)2 (4), which is a toxic compound formed by bacterial action on aqueous solutions of I Ig ions. Coordination numbers as high as 12 are found for members of the / block, but they are rare in the d block. One interesting type of d-mctal compound in which there are 10 links between the ligands and the central metal ion is ferrocene, dicyciopentadi-enyliron(O), [Fe(C5H5)2] (5). Ferrocene is an aptly named sandwich compound, with the two planar cyclopentadienyl ligands the bread and the metal atom the filling. The formal name for a sandwich compound is a metallocene. 

However, while transition-metal ions often contain unpaired electrons, they exhibit none of the reactivity that is commonly associated with such radicals outside the d block. There is no behaviour comparable to that of the highly reactive and short lived radicals such as CH3. Also associated with the presence of unpaired electrons in these species is the phenomenon of paramagnetism. The long-term stability of many compounds with unpaired electrons is a characteristic of the transition-metal series. 

A pure transition metal is best described by the band theory of solids, as introduced in Chapter 10. In this model, the valence s and d electrons form extended bands of orbitals that are delocalized over the entire network of metal atoms. These valence electrons are easily removed, so most elements In the d block react readily to form compounds oxides such as Fc2 O3, sulfides such as ZnS, and mineral salts such as zircon, ZrSi O4. ... 

Online detection using 4H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a detection mode that has become increasingly practical. In a recent application, cell culture supernatant was monitored on-line with 1-dimensional NMR for trehalose, P-D-pyranose, P-D-furanose, succinate, acetate and uridine.33 In stopped-flow mode, column fractions can also be analyzed by 2-D NMR. Reaction products of the preparation of the neuromuscular blocking compound atracurium besylate were separated on chiral HPLC and detected by 4H NMR.34 Ten isomeric peaks were separated on a cellulose-based phase and identified by online NMR in stopped-flow mode. 

Many compounds of p- and d-block elements containing El Cl or El Br bonds react with 1 under insertion into these bonds. In some cases, the formed insertion products are stable under ordinary conditions. In other cases, the insertion products undergo further sometimes rather complicated rearrangement and elimination reactions such situations are described in Chapter IV. D. 

Certain metal alkyl compounds from p- and d-block elements react under very mild conditions with 1 under insertion into the element-carbon bond. Some examples are shown in Scheme 9. 

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