Lewis acids structure/bonding properties

The opening paragraph of this chapter emphasized that the connection between structure and properties is what chemistry is all about We have just seen one such con nection From the Lewis structure of a molecule we can use electronegativity to tell us about the polarity of bonds and combine that with VSEPR to predict whether the mol ecule has a dipole moment In the next several sections we 11 see a connection between structure and chemical reactivity as we review acids and bases... 

The principal factors affecting solvent-ion interactions can be classified as ion-dipole, Lewis acid-base, hydrogen-bonding, solvent structural, and steric. The solvent obviously plays a major part in these interactions. Therefore, to interpret trends in conductance data, bulk solvent properties such as viscosity and dielectric constant should be considered. Table 1 lists selected physical properties for a number of organic solvents. 

Having generated suitable (partially) cationic, Lewis acidic metal centers, several factors need to be considered to understand the progress of the alkene polymerisation reaction the coordination of the monomer, and the role (if any) of the counteranion on catalyst activity and, possibly, on the stereoselectivity of monomer enchainment. Since in d° metal systems there is no back-bonding, the formation of alkene complexes relies entirely on the rather weak donor properties of these ligands. In catalytic systems complexes of the type [L2M(R) (alkene)] cannot be detected and constitute structures more closely related to the transition state rather than intermediates or resting states. Information about metal-alkene interactions, bond distances and energetics comes from model studies and a combination of spectroscopic and kinetic techniques. 

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