Reaction kinetics of coordination

Despite the considerable amount of information that has been garnered from more traditional methods of study it is clearly desirable to be able to generate, spectroscopically characterize and follow the reaction kinetics of coordinatively unsaturated species in real time. Since desired timescales for reaction will typically be in the microsecond to sub-microsecond range, a system with a rapid time response will be required. Transient absorption systems employing a visible or UV probe which meet this criterion have been developed and have provided valuable information for metal carbonyl systems [14,15,27]. However, since metal carbonyls are extremely photolabile and their UV-visible absorption spectra are not very structure sensitive, the preferred choice for a spectroscopic probe is time resolved infrared spectroscopy. Unfortunately, infrared detectors are enormously less sensitive and significantly slower... 

To classify the varying rates of reaction (most commonly with regard to substitution) of coordination compounds, Henry Taube, who received the 1983 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work in the kinetics of coordination compounds, suggested the terms and inert. If we consider a 0.1 Af aqueous solution, a lahk coordination compound is one that under these circumstances has a half-life of less than a minute. (Recall that half-life is the amount of time required for the concentration of the reactant to decrease to half its initial concentration.) An inert coordination compound, on the other hand, is one with a half-life greater than a minute. 

Detailed studies of the fluoride complexation of Rf have been extensively performed by Haba et al. [53], Toyoshima et al. [41, 54], and Ishii et al. [55, 56] with AIDA at the IAEA tandem accelerator facility. As the fluoride anion F strongly coordinates with metal cations, strong ionic bonds are formed between metal cations and F . Thus, information about such as charge density and ionic radii of the metal cations is obtained through the fluoride complex formation process. In addition, the fast reaction kinetics of the fluoride complex formation is an advantage of studying the chemical behavior of short-lived nuclides. 

Until now we have been discussing the kinetics of catalyzed reactions. Losses due to volatility and side reactions also raise questions as to the validity of assuming a constant concentration of catalyst. Of course, one way of avoiding this issue is to omit an outside catalyst reactions involving carboxylic acids can be catalyzed by these compounds themselves. Experiments conducted under these conditions are informative in their own right and not merely as means of eliminating errors in the catalyzed case. As noted in connection with the discussion of reaction (5.G), the intermediate is stabilized by coordination with a proton from the catalyst. In the case of autoprotolysis by the carboxylic acid reactant, the rate-determining step is probably the slow reaction of intermediate [1] ... 

Other Coordination Complexes. Because carbonate and bicarbonate are commonly found under environmental conditions in water, and because carbonate complexes Pu readily in most oxidation states, Pu carbonato complexes have been studied extensively. The reduction potentials vs the standard hydrogen electrode of Pu(VI)/(V) shifts from 0.916 to 0.33 V and the Pu(IV)/(III) potential shifts from 1.48 to -0.50 V in 1 Tf carbonate. These shifts indicate strong carbonate complexation. Electrochemistry, reaction kinetics, and spectroscopy of plutonium carbonates in solution have been reviewed (113). The solubiUty of Pu(IV) in aqueous carbonate solutions has been measured, and the stabiUty constants of hydroxycarbonato complexes have been calculated (Fig. 6b) (90). 

Asymptotic Solution Rate equations for the various mass-transfer mechanisms are written in dimensionless form in Table 16-13 in terms of a number of transfer units, N = L/HTU, for particle-scale mass-transfer resistances, a number of reaction units for the reaction kinetics mechanism, and a number of dispersion units, Np, for axial dispersion. For pore and sohd diffusion, q = / // p is a dimensionless radial coordinate, where / p is the radius of the particle, if a particle is bidisperse, then / p can be replaced by the radius of a suoparticle. For prehminary calculations. Fig. 16-13 can be used to estimate N for use with the LDF approximation when more than one resistance is important. 

The results of x-ray structure analysis and neutron diffraction, as well as spectroscopic experiments (J(HSi) = 70.8 Hz for 30), can be interpreted in the sense mentioned above. The observed reactivity of 30 is also consistent with this view, the coordinated silanes can be displaced smoothly by phosphines, according to first-order reaction kinetics. 

This section is almost entirely concerned with the kinetics of solid phase decompositions of classical coordination compounds, since most of the information available refers to these substances. The hydrates, in which the ligands are water only, are correctly classified under the present heading, but as their dehydrations have been so intensively studied, a separate section (Sect. 1) has been devoted to the removal of water from crystalline hydrates. A separate water elimination step also preceeds many decomposition reactions. 

Comparative studies [1127] of the kinetics of decomposition of similar salts containing related pyridine ligands have been used to investigate the strength of M—N bonds in coordination compounds. Non-isothermal DSC measurements were used to determine values of E for the reactions... 

It is apparent, from the above short survey, that kinetic studies have been restricted to the decomposition of a relatively few coordination compounds and some are largely qualitative or semi-quantitative in character. Estimations of thermal stabilities, or sometimes the relative stabilities within sequences of related salts, are often made for consideration within a wider context of the structures and/or properties of coordination compounds. However, it cannot be expected that the uncritical acceptance of such parameters as the decomposition temperature, the activation energy, and/or the reaction enthalpy will necessarily give information of fundamental significance. There is always uncertainty in the reliability of kinetic information obtained from non-isothermal measurements. Concepts derived from studies of homogeneous reactions of coordination compounds have often been transferred, sometimes without examination of possible implications, to the interpretation of heterogeneous behaviour. Important characteristic features of heterogeneous rate processes, such as the influence of defects and other types of imperfection, have not been accorded sufficient attention. 

Formulation of the detailed mechanisms of decomposition of coordination compounds are likely to remain difficult. Reliable kinetic and supporting observations are not easily obtained where several initiating reactions are possible and subsequent chemical changes may occur, before the first-formed product has left the crystallite of reactant. 

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