Soft acid metal ions

It was concluded that there are two kinds of substrate acids. Members of one class bind strongly to bases which have a high affinity for protons, while those of the second class bind preferentially with highly polarizable bases. The bases are called hard and soft, respectively, as suggested to Pearson by D. H. Busch. The acids with which these bases combine preferentially are the hard and the soft acids. Metal ions of class A (3) or (a) (4) are hard acids, and the class B or (b) ions are soft. 

They indicated that the softness parameter may reasonably be considered as a quantitative measure of the softness of metal ions and is consistent with the HSAB principle by Pearson (1963, 1968). Wood et al. (1987) have shown experimentally that the relative solubilities of the metals in H20-NaCl-C02 solutions from 200°C to 350°C are consistent with the HSAB principle in chloride-poor solutions, the soft ions Au" " and Ag+ prefer to combine with the soft bisulfide ligand the borderline ions Fe +, Zn +, Pb +, Sb + and Bi- + prefer water, hydroxyl, carbonate or bicarbonate ligands, and the extremely hard Mo + bonds only to the hard anions OH and. Tables 1.23 and 1.24 show the classification of metals and ligands according to the HSAB principle of Ahrland et al. (1958), Pearson (1963, 1968) (Table 1.23) and softness parameter of Yamada and Tanaka (1975) (Table 1.24). Compari.son of Table 1.22 with Tables 1.23 and 1.24 makes it evident that the metals associated with the gold-silver deposits have a relatively soft character, whereas those associated with the base-metal deposits have a relatively hard (or borderline) character. For example, metals that tend to form hard acids (Mn +, Ga +, In- +, Fe +, Sn " ", MoO +, WO " ", CO2) and borderline acids (Fe +, Zn +, Pb +, Sb +) are enriched in the base-metal deposits, whereas metals that tend to form soft acids... 

As was pointed out in the previous chapter, biologically important metal ions and their ligands can be classified according to the hard-soft theory of acids and bases (Table 2.1). While there are exceptions, most metal ions bind to donor ligands as a function of preferences based on this concept, with hard acids (metal ions) binding preferentially to hard bases (ligands) and soft acids to soft bases. 

Binuclear metal ion incorporation can also be achieved by attaching functionalized side chains to the macrocyclic framework (27).94 In (27) the soft phosphine portion can be thought of as the redox center, while the hard N202 ring provides a Lewis acid metal ion center. 

Lewis acids such as silyl triflates7 or boron trifluoride8 initiate the rearrangement of allyl acetates, usually with low stereoselectivity. But soft electrophilic metal ions such as Hg2+ or Pd2 + catalyze the rearrangement of allylic esters and carbamates (Table l)9. 

Yingst and McDaniel (7) used the a// ratio from Edwards equation as a criterion for assessing the softness of metal ions. It is shown that hard acids generally have a low a (polarizability) and a high p (basicity) value, therefore a/p permits simultaneous consideration of both factors. 

The strength of the complexation is a function of both the donor atom and the metal ion. The solvent medium is also an important factor because solvent molecules that are potential electron donors can compete for the Lewis acid. Qualitative predictions about the strength of donor-acceptor complexation can be made on the basis of the hard-soft-acid-base concept (see Section 1.2.3). The better matched the donor and acceptor, the stronger is the complexation. Scheme 4.3 gives an ordering of hardness and softness for some neutral and ionic Lewis acids and bases. 

The nature of the donor atoms in the chelating agent. Ligands which contain donor atoms of the soft-base type form their most stable complexes with the relatively small group of Class B metal ions (i.e. soft acids) and are thus more selective reagents. This is illustrated by the reagent diphenylthiocarbazone (dithizone) used for the solvent extraction of metal ions such as Pd2+, Ag+, Hg2+, Cu2+, Bi3+, Pb2+, and Zn2 +. ... 

Another feature of the metal ions that are typically involved in cementitious bonding in AB cements is that most of them fall into the category of hard in Pearson s Hard and Soft Acids and Bases scheme (Pearson, 1963). The underlying principle of this classification is that bases may be divided into two categories, namely those that are polarizable or soft, and those that are non-polarizable or hard. Lewis acids too may be essentially divided into hard and soft, depending on polarizability. From these classifications emerges the useful generalization that hard acids prefer to associate with hayd bases and soft acids prefer to associate with soft bases (see Section 2.3.7). 

Ahrland et al. (1958) classified a number of Lewis acids as of (a) or (b) type based on the relative affinities for various ions of the ligand atoms. The sequence of stability of complexes is different for classes (a) and (b). With acceptor metal ions of class (a), the affinities of the halide ions lie in the sequence F > Cl > Br > I , whereas with class (b), the sequence is F < Cl" < Br < I . Pearson (1963, 1968) classified acids and bases as hard (class (a)), soft (class (b)) and borderline (Table 1.23). Class (a) acids prefer to link with hard bases, whereas class (b) acids prefer soft bases. Yamada and Tanaka (1975) proposed a softness parameter of metal ions, on the basis of the parameters En (electron donor constant) and H (basicity constant) given by Edwards (1954) (Table 1.24). The softness parameter a is given by a/ a - - P), where a and p are constants characteristic of metal ions. 

The difference in the kinds of metals enriched in Kuroko, base metal vein-type and precious metal vein-type deposits could be explained in terms of the HSAB (hard, soft, acids and bases) principle (Pearson, 1963). According to this principle, relatively hard cations (base metal (Cu, Pb, Zn, Fe, Mn, Ag) ions) tend to combine preferentially with chloride ion in hydrothermal solution, while soft cations (Au, Ag, Tl, Hg ions etc.) combine with H2S and HS . The differences in salinity of ore fluids in base-metal-rich deposits (base metal vein-type deposits and Kuroko deposits) and base-metal-poor deposits (precious metal vein-type deposits) is also in accordance with the HSAB principle. 

Cu2+(aq) to 0.9 in [Cu(tetb)]2+. There is also a modest increase in softness due to changes in EA and CA parameters, which can be interpreted in terms of the symbiosis proposed by Jorgensen (33). The low Da parameter for [Cu(tetb)]2+ suggests that the main effect in transforming Cu(II) to a soft Lewis acid in [Cu(tetb)]2+ is the altered steric situation in coordination of bulky donor atoms to the metal ion. 

Metal cations can lend electrophilic assistance to weaken the Pd—X bonds in the intermediate R-Pd —X. Either full fission of this bond, leading to the realization of a polar mechanism, or partial polarization, might take place. Soft Lewis acids (the cations of Cu, Ag, Tl) are used most often (see Chapter 9.8 for a discussion of how metal ions act as Lewis-acid catalysts). 

Cation-selective ionophores are the most successful in polymeric ISEs and selectivi-ties exceeding ten orders of magnitude became quite common. The cation-ionophore binding occurs dominantly due to Lewis interactions and could be understood in terms of hard and soft acid and bases theory (HSAB). While hard base oxygen atoms originate from ester, ether or carbonyl functionalities, and interact with hard acid alkaline cations, the softer sulfur or nitrogen atoms better bind with transition metal ions. Cation... 

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