Metal cluster compounds coordination numbers

To relieve the strain of sterically demanding ligands, a metal often remains coordinatively unsaturated. Copper(I) halides and phosphines form cubane-like metal cluster compounds, Lm(CuX) ,12 With the bulky trimesitylphosphine, a monomeric two-coordinate [CuBr(Pmes)3] is formed, Br—Cu—P = 173.7°.252 The d(Cu—P) of 2.193 A is comparable to that in normal tet-rameric complexes, but d(Cu—Br) at 2.225 A is shorter, no doubt due to the reduced coordination number. Heating crowded complexes can also result in a reduction in coordination number (see equation 65). 

Current interest in metal cluster compounds has arisen from the demonstration that metal-metal bonds play a key role in determining the chemistry of large classes of compounds, in particular, those with heavy metal atoms in low valent states. The occurrence of metal-metal bonding in transition metal complexes has been surveyed 21, 26, 59, 271, 275), and the criteria for metal-metal bonding and the factors contributing to the stability of such bonds have been discussed. Schafer and Schnering Sll) and more recently Keppert and Vrieze 229) have reviewed the lower halide, oxide, and oxyhalide clusters of the heavier transition metals. Cotton 102) has considered the transition metal clusters in terms of structural types, and a similar approach has been adopted in a review of molecular polyhedra of high coordination number 309). 

Tetracarbonylcobaltate(l —) forms ionic complexes with group 1 elements. However, compounds of the type M[Co(CO)4] , where 2 and M = zinc, cadmium, mercury, indium, etc., are covalent, possessing M —Co bonds in which the main group metal has normal coordination number. These compounds are monomeric in the solid state. Ag[Co(CO)4] and Cu[Co(CO)4] are tetrameric clusters in which the metal atoms form planar, eight-membered rings. Each of the distorted [Co(CO)4] tetrahedrons is bonded to two atoms of silver or copper. 

The versatile binding modes of the Cu2+ ion with coordination number from four to six due to Jahn-Teller distortion is one of the important reasons for the diverse structures of the Cu-Ln amino acid complexes. In contrast, other transition metal ions prefer the octahedral mode. For the divalent ions Co2+, Ni2+, and Zn2+, only two distinct structures were observed one is a heptanuclear octahedral [LnM6] cluster compound, and the other is also heptanuclear but with a trigonal-prismatic structure. 

This is one of two articles in this volume concerned with the borane-carborane structural pattern. In the other (see Williams, this volume, p. 67) Williams has shown how the pattern reflects the coordination number preferences of the various atoms involved. The purpose of the present article is to note some bonding implications of the pattern, and to show its relevance to a wide range of other compounds, including metal clusters, metal-hydrocarbon n complexes, and various neutral or charged hydrocarbons. 

Enzymes are large protein molecules (apoenzymes), which act as catalysts for almost all the chemical reactions that occur in living organisms. The structures of a number of enzymes contains groups of metal ions, known as metal clusters, coordinated to the peptide chain. These enzymes are often referred to as metalloenzymes. Many enzymes require the presence of organic compounds (co-enzymes) and/or metal ions and inorganic compounds (co-factors) in order to function. These composite active enzyme systems are known as holoenzymes. 

The use of unsubstituted or 4-methyl phenols resulted in the formation of cluster compounds [58]. However, 2,6-di(fcrt-butyl) substituted aryloxide ligands allowed the isolation of mononuclear 3-coordinate homoleptie complexes of the lanthanide elements, the coordination mode of which was first demonstrated with the N(SiMe3)2 ligand [59], The 2,6-substitution pattern is very effective because the alkyl groups are directed towards the metal center and impose a steric coordination number onto the metal which is comparable to the Cp ligand (Cp 2.49 OC6H3rBu2-2,6 2.41) [60],... 

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