Nitrous oxide transition metal complexes

Nitrous oxide has 15 electrons. Transition metal complexes of NO may be pictured as having spins of S , + where S , is the spin of the metal center alone. 

B8. Banks, R. G. S., Henderson, R. J., and Pratt, J. M., Reaction of gases in solution. Part III. Some reactions of nitrous oxide with transition-metal complexes. J. Chem. Soc. (A) 2886-2889 (1968). 

Nitrous oxide is relatively unreactive, being inert to the halogens, alkali metals and ozone at room temperature. It will oxidize some low-valent transition-metal complexes21 and forms the complex [Ru(NH3)5N20]2+ (Section 26-F-4). At elevated temperatures it decomposes to nitrogen and oxygen, reacts with alkali metals and many organic compounds, and supports combustion. It has a moderate solubility in cream, and, apart from its anesthetic role, its chief commercial use is as the propellant gas in whipped cream bombs. 

Nitrous oxide reductases are soluble, periplasmic Cu-containing enzymes encoded by nosZ that catalyze the final step in denitrification (Equation (10)). This reaction is difficult chemistry, since N2O is a poor ligand for transition metals, is kinetically inert, and none of the known metal/N20 complexes have been structurally characterized. No CU/N2O chemistry, other than that associated with N2OR, has been reported ... 

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