Oceans, coordination chemistry

The coordination chemistry of sea water represents a new and useful approach to understanding the chemical properties of sea water. The coordination chemistry of sea water differs from contemporary coordination chemistry in the following respects most complexes involve pretransition metals, most complexes are labile, the ligands are simpler (water, hydroxide, chloride, carbonate, sulfate), and time and space are important parameters. Principles of coordination chemistry are applied to contemporary research in marine science in four areas analysis of constituents of natural waters, the nature of metallic species in the oceans, the Red Tide problem, and carbonate geochemistry. 

Let us review those principles of coordination chemistry that are pertinent to ocean studies. 

Some Special Aspects of the Coordination Chemistry of the Ocean... 

Different Metals. Typically the coordination chemistry of the laboratory deals with the transition metals, usually of the d type, and the coordination chemistry of the metals of Groups I and II is commonly neglected. In contrast, the coordination chemistry of the ocean would, at first, seem to be the exclusive province of the pretransition metals this is seen clearly by looking at an average composition of an ocean (Table I) (36). 

With these kinds of experiments in mind, Beck3311 has elegantly deduced some of the important simple coordination chemistry of the prebiotic soup. He suggests a primary ligand set of H20, NH3, CO, CN, (CN)2C22, S2, H, N2 and C02. Some of these species are of importance in reactions to form complex organic molecules, as discussed below. Cyanide complexes were possibly important in the primitive oceans, and experiments on extraction of elements from powdered rock samples have shown that significant concentrations of Fe, Co, Cu, Mn and Mo... 

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