Pauling’s electroneutrality rule

The course of modern organometallic chemistry has been greatly influenced by three simple generalizations the Dewar-Chatt-Duncanson synergic bonding model for metal-olefin complexes (40, 72) Pauling s electroneutrality principle (174), and the 18-electron or inert gas rule (202). In this section the impact of recent theoretical calculations on these important generalizations will be evaluated. 

The values of i calculated fromEq. 2.105 on v(M) in different molecules, give the average (for 700 molecular halides and chalcogenides) of e = 0.5e, in agreement with Pauling s famous Electroneutrality Rule [480,481] which states that net charges of atoms in stable molecules and crystals should not exceed Yi, even though later he softened this limitation to 1 [475]. This principle later has been proved theoretically, confirmed experimentally and now plays a key role in the description of electronic structure of molecules and crystals. 

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