Pauling, Linus, coordination chemistry

Valence-bond concepts in coordination chemistry and the nature of metal-metal bonds. J. Chem. Ed. 61 (1984) 582—587. (Linus Pauling and Zelek S. Herman). 

The valence bond theory was developed by Professor Linus Pauling, of the California Institute of Technology, and made available in his excellent book. The Nature of the Chemical Bond, published in 1940, 1948, and 1960. Along with the late Marie Curie, Professor Pauling is one of the very few persons to have been awarded two Nobel prizes, the Nobel prize in chemistry in 1954 and the Nobel peace prize in 1962. Pauling s ideas have had an important impact on all areas of chemistry his valence bond theory has aided coordination chemists and has been extensively used. It can account reasonably well for the structure and magnetic properties of metal complexes. Extensions of the theory will account for other properties of coordination compounds such as absorption spectra, but other theories seem to do this more simply. Therefore, in recent years coordination chemists have favored the crystal field, ligand field, and molecular orbital theories. 

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