Electron Rule

As we have already seen, transition metal catalyzed reactions proceed stepwise according to fixed rules regarding the oxidation state and coordination munber of the metal center. 

Particularly useful is the 16/18-electron rule proposed by Tohnan [19], which has been successfully employed to specify preferred reaction paths in homogeneous catalysis. 

The rule is based on the observation that the well-characterized diamagnetic complexes of the transition metals in particular have 16 or 18 valence electrons. All h-gands bound covalently to the metal center contribute two electrons to the valence shell, and the metal atom provides all the d electrons, corresponding to its formal oxidation state. 

Tohnan specified the following rules for organometallic complexes and their reactions  

1) Under normal conditions, diamagnetic organometalhc complexes of the transition metals exist in measurable concentrations only as 16- or 18-electron complexes. 

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Many transition metal complexes including Ni(CO)4 obey the 18 electron rule, which IS to transition metal complexes as the octet rule is to mam group elements like carbon and oxygen It states that... 

With an atomic number of 28 nickel has the electron conflguration [Ar]4s 3c (ten valence electrons) The 18 electron rule is satisfied by adding to these ten the eight elec Irons from four carbon monoxide ligands A useful point to remember about the 18 electron rule when we discuss some reactions of transition metal complexes is that if the number is less than 18 the metal is considered coordinatively unsaturated and can accept additional ligands... 

Not all ligands use just two electrons to bond to transition metals Chromium has the electron configuration [Ar]4s 3rf (6 valence electrons) and needs 12 more to satisfy the 18 electron rule In the compound (benzene)tricarbonylchromium 6 of these 12 are the tt elec Irons of the benzene ring the remammg 6 are from the three carbonyl ligands... 

The 18 electron rule is a general but not universal guide for assessing whether a certain transition metal complex is stable or not Both of the following are stable compounds but only one obeys the 18 electron rule Which one" ... 

Because the electron-counting paradigm incorporates the 18-electron rule when appHed to transition-metal complexes, exceptions can be expected as found for classical coordination complexes. Relatively minor exceptions are found in (Tj -C H )2Fe2C2BgHg [54854-86-3] (52) and [Ni(B2QH22)2] A [11141-32-5] (53). The former Q,n electrons) is noticeably distorted from an idealized stmcture, and the latter is reminiscent of the and complexes discussed above. An extremely deficient electron count is obtained for complexes such as P7036-06-9] which have essentially undistorted... 

For example, in Ni(CO) nickel metal having 28 electrons coordinates four CO molecules to achieve a total of 36 electrons, the configuration of the inert gas krypton. Nearly every metal forming a carbonyl obeys the 18-electron rule. An exception is vanadium, forming a hexacarbonyl in which the number of electrons is 35. This carbonyl, which has a paramagnetism equivalent to one unpaired electron, however, readily adds one electron to form a closed valence shell complex containing the V(CO)(, anion. 

Structure. The CO molecule coordinates in the ways shown diagrammaticaHy in Figure 1. Terminal carbonyls are the most common. Bridging carbonyls are common in most polynuclear metal carbonyls. As depicted, metal—metal bonds also play an important role in polynuclear metal carbonyls. The metal atoms in carbonyl complexes show a strong tendency to use ak their valence orbitals in forming bonds. These include the n + 1)5 and the n + l)p orbitals. As a result, use of the 18-electron rule is successflil in predicting the stmcture of most metal carbonyls. 

For many species the effective atomic number (FAN) or 18- electron rule is helpful. Low spin transition-metal complexes having the FAN of the next noble gas (Table 5), which have 18 valence electrons, are usually inert, and normally react by dissociation. Fach normal donor is considered to contribute two electrons the remainder are metal valence electrons. Sixteen-electron complexes are often inert, if these are low spin and square-planar, but can undergo associative substitution and oxidative-addition reactions. 

Like nickel, iron reacts with carbon monoxide to form a compound having the formula M(CO)n that obeys the 18-electron rule. What is the value of n in the formula Fe(CO)n ... 

Fenocene has an even more interesting stmcture. A central iron is ir-bonded to two cyclopentadienyl ligands in what is aptly described as a sandwich. It, too, obeys the 18-electron rule. Each cyclopentadienyl ligand contributes five electrons for a total of ten and iron, with an electron configuration of [Ar]45 34i contributes eight. Alternatively, fenocene can be viewed as being derived from Fe " (six valence electrons) and two aromatic cyclopentadienide rings (six electrons each). 

Electron rule (Section 14.14) The number of ligands that can be attached to a transition metal are such that the sum of the electrons brought by the ligands plus the valence electrons of the metal equals 18. 

The borides (p. 145), carbides (pp. 297, 1074), and nitrides (p. 417) have been discussed previously. Binary hydrides are not formed but prolonged heating of powdered Mg and Fe under a high pressure of H2 yields MgFeH6 containing the octahedral hydrido anion, [FeH6] which satisfies the 18-electron rule. 

Flaving the d s configuration, the elements of this triad are able to conform with the 18-electron rule by forming mononuclear carbonyls of the type M(C0)5. These are volatile liquids which can be prepared by the direct action of CO on the powdered metal (Fe and Ru) or by the action of... 

Although the cyclopentadienyls dominate the aromatic chemistry of this group, bis(arene) compounds are also well established. They are able to satisfy the 18-electron rule as the dications, [M(arene)2] " or by the two rings adopting different bonding modes one tj the other tj". ... 

Simple ligand-field arguments, which will be elaborated when M ions of the Ni, Pd, Pt triad are discussed on p. 1157, indicate that the configuration favours a 4-coordinate, square-planar stereochemistry. In the present group, however, the configuration is associated with a lower oxidation state and the requirements of the 18-electron rule, which favour 5-coordination, arc also to be considered. The upshot is that most Co complexes are 5-coordinate, like [Co(CNR)5j, and square-planar Co is apparently unknown. On the other hand, complexes of Rh and Iri are predominantly square planar, although 5-coordination docs also occur. 

Because they possess an odd number of valence electrons the elements of this group can only satisfy the 18-electron rule in their carbonyls if M-M bonds are present. In accord with this, mononuclear carbonyls are not formed. Instead [M2(CO)s], [M4(CO)i2] and [M6(CO)i6] are the principal binary carbonyls of these elements. But reduction of [Co2(CO)g] with, for instance, sodium amalgam in benzene yields the monomeric and tetrahedral, 18-electron ion, [Co(CO)4] , acidification of which gives the pale yellow hydride, [HCo(CO)4]. Reductions employing Na metal in liquid NH3 yield the super-reduced [M(CO)3] (M = Co, Rh, Ir) containing these elements in their lowest formal oxidation state. 

On the basis of the 18-electron rule, the d s configuration is expected to lead to carbonyls of formula [M(CO)4] and this is found for nickel. [Ni(CO)4], the first metal carbonyl to be discovered, is an extremely toxic, colourless liquid (mp —19.3°, bp 42.2°) which is tetrahedral in the vapour and in the solid (Ni-C 184pm, C-O 115 pm). Its importance in the Mond process for manufacturing nickel metal has already been mentioned as has the absence of stable analogues of Pd and Pt. It may be germane to add that the introduction of halides (which are a-bonded) reverses the situation [NiX(CO)3] (X = Cl, Br, I) are very unstable, the yellow [Pd"(CO)Cl2]n is somewhat less so, whereas the colourless [Pt (CO)2Cl2] and [PtX3(CO)] are quite stable. 

A central theme in our approach, which we believe to be different from those of others, is to focus on the changing chemistry associated with higher, middle and lower oxidation state compounds. The chemical stability of radical species and open-shell Werner-type complexes, on the one hand, and the governance of the 18-electron rule, on the other, are presented as consequences of the changing nature of the valence shell in transition-metal species of different oxidation state. 

Pyykkd, P. and Runeberg, N. (2002) Icosahedral WAU]2 A Predicted Closed-Shell Species, Stabilized by Aurophilic Attraction and Relativity and in Accord with the 18-Electron Rule. Angewandte... 

This mode of calculation has been called the EAN rule (effective atomic number rule). It is valid for arbitrary metal clusters (closo and others) if the number of electrons is sufficient to assign one electron pair for every M-M connecting line between adjacent atoms, and if the octet rule or the 18-electron rule is fulfilled for main group elements or for transition group elements, respectively. The number of bonds b calculated in this way is a limiting value the number of polyhedron edges in the cluster can be greater than or equal to b, but never smaller. If it is equal, the cluster is electron precise. 

When the manganese atom (Z = 25) is considered, we see that the addition of five CO molecules would bring the total number of electrons to 35, whereas six CO ligands would bring the total to 37. In neither case is the 18-electron mle obeyed. In accord with these observations, neither Mn(CO)5 nor Mn(CO)6 is a stable complex. What is stable is the complex [Mn(CO)5]2 (sometimes written as Mn2(CO)10) in which there is a metal-metal bond between the manganese atoms, which allows the 18-electron rule to be obeyed. 

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