Transition metal ions electronic transitions

Most of the free-radical mechanisms discussed thus far have involved some combination of homolytic bond dissociation, atom abstraction, and addition steps. In this section, we will discuss reactions that include discrete electron-transfer steps. Addition to or removal of one electron fi om a diamagnetic organic molecule generates a radical. Organic reactions that involve electron-transfer steps are often mediated by transition-metal ions. Many transition-metal ions have two or more relatively stable oxidation states differing by one electron. Transition-metal ions therefore firequently participate in electron-transfer processes. 

Transition metal ions, electronically coupled to the conjugated backbone, allowed further tuning of the polymer s redox properties, which behaved complementary to FEDOT. A-B-type polymers with EDOT and carbazole structural units turned out to be another class of polymers anodically coloring that can successfully be combined with alkylenedioxythiophenes. - ... 

Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy. Several ESR studies have been reported for adsorption systems [85-90]. ESR signals are strong enough to allow the detection of quite small amounts of unpaired electrons, and the shape of the signal can, in the case of adsorbed transition metal ions, give an indication of the geometry of the adsorption site. Ref. 91 provides a contemporary example of the use of ESR and of electron spin echo modulation (ESEM) to locate the environment of Cu(II) relative to in a microporous aluminophosphate molecular sieve. 

An atom or a molecule with the total spin of the electrons S = 1 is said to be in a triplet state. The multiplicity of such a state is (2.S +1)=3. Triplet systems occur in both excited and ground state molecules, in some compounds containing transition metal ions, in radical pair systems, and in some defects in solids. 

Shannon and Prewitt base their effective ionic radii on the assumption that the ionic radius of (CN 6) is 140 pm and that of (CN 6) is 133 pm. Also taken into consideration is the coordination number (CN) and electronic spin state (HS and LS, high spin and low spin) of first-row transition metal ions. These radii are empirical and include effects of covalence in specific metal-oxygen or metal-fiuorine bonds. Older crystal ionic radii were based on the radius of (CN 6) equal to 119 pm these radii are 14-18 percent larger than the effective ionic radii. 

Reactions involving the peroxodisulfate ion are usually slow at ca 20°C. The peroxodisulfate ion decomposes into free radicals, which are initiators for numerous chain reactions. These radicals act either thermally or by electron transfer with transition-metal ions or reducing agents (79). 

As with other hydroperoxides, hydroxyaLkyl hydroperoxides are decomposed by transition-metal ions in an electron-transfer process. This is tme even for those hydroxyaLkyl hydroperoxides that only exist in equiUbrium. For example, those hydroperoxides from cycHc ketones (R, R = alkylene) form an oxygen-centered radical initially which then undergoes ring-opening -scission forming an intermediate carboxyalkyl radical (124) ... 

Metal-Catalyzed Oxidation. Trace quantities of transition metal ions catalyze the decomposition of hydroperoxides to radical species and greatiy accelerate the rate of oxidation. Most effective are those metal ions that undergo one-electron transfer reactions, eg, copper, iron, cobalt, and manganese ions (9). The metal catalyst is an active hydroperoxide decomposer in both its higher and its lower oxidation states. In the overall reaction, two molecules of hydroperoxide decompose to peroxy and alkoxy radicals (eq. 5). 

In general, octahedral complexes of transition-metal ions possessing 0, 1, or 2 electrons beyond the electronic configuration of the preceding noble gas, ie, i/, (P configurations, are labile. The (P systems are usually inert the relative lability of vanadium(II) may be charge and/or redox related. 

An important property of the surface behaviour of oxides which contain transition metal ions having a number of possible valencies can be revealed by X-ray induced photoelectron spectroscopy. The energy spectrum of tlrese electrons give a direct measure of the binding energies of the valence electrons on the metal ions, from which the charge state can be deduced (Gunarsekaran et al., 1994). 

Electron-Transfer Reactions Involving Transition-Metal Ions... 

SECTION 12.8. ELECTRON-TRANSFER REACTIONS INVOLVING TRANSITION-METAL IONS... 

In the Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions, as in all transition metal ions, there are no outer s electrons. 

Persulfate (41) reacts with transition metal ions (e.g. Ag, Fe21, Ti31) according to Scheme 3.42. Various other reduetants have been described. These include halide ions, thiols (e.g. 2-mercaptoethanol, thioglycolic acid, cysteine, thiourea), bisulfite, thiosulfate, amines (triethanolamine, tetramethylethylenediamine, hydrazine hydrate), ascorbic acid, and solvated electrons (e.g. in radiolysis). The mechanisms and the initiating species produced have not been fully elucidated for... 

Table 1-2. The electronic configurations of the transition-metal ions in the divalent and triva-lent states.

Unpaired electrons and magnetism - One of the consequences of the open (incompletely filled) d" configuration of transition-metal ions may be the presence of one or more unpaired electrons. Such compounds could be described as radicals, and they are detected by techniques such as electron spin resonance spectroscopy. 

However, while transition-metal ions often contain unpaired electrons, they exhibit none of the reactivity that is commonly associated with such radicals outside the d block. There is no behaviour comparable to that of the highly reactive and short lived radicals such as CH3. Also associated with the presence of unpaired electrons in these species is the phenomenon of paramagnetism. The long-term stability of many compounds with unpaired electrons is a characteristic of the transition-metal series. 

Crystal-field theory (CFT) was constructed as the first theoretical model to account for these spectral differences. Its central idea is simple in the extreme. In free atoms and ions, all electrons, but for our interests particularly the outer or non-core electrons, are subject to three main energetic constraints a) they possess kinetic energy, b) they are attracted to the nucleus and c) they repel one another. (We shall put that a little more exactly, and symbolically, later). Within the environment of other ions, as for example within the lattice of a crystal, those electrons are expected to be subject also to one further constraint. Namely, they will be affected by the non-spherical electric field established by the surrounding ions. That electric field was called the crystalline field , but we now simply call it the crystal field . Since we are almost exclusively concerned with the spectral and other properties of positively charged transition-metal ions surrounded by anions of the lattice, the effect of the crystal field is to repel the electrons. 

We are concerned with what happens to the (spectral) d electrons of a transition-metal ion surrounded by a group of ligands which, in the crystal-field model, may be represented by point negative charges. The results depend upon the number and spatial arrangements of these charges. For the moment, and because of the very common occurrence of octahedral coordination, we focus exclusively upon an octahedral array of point charges. 

Organic Molecules It can be seen from our earlier discussion that the presence of a transition metal ion is not always required for an electrochromic effect. Indeed, many organic molecules can yield colored products as a result of reversible reduction or oxidation. 4,4 -Bipyridinium salts are the best known example of such compounds. These compounds can be prepared, stored, and purchased in colorless dicationic form (bipm +). One electron reduction of the dication leads to the intensely colored radical cation (bipm+ ). Such radical cations exist in equilibrium with their dimers (bipm ). In the case of methyl viologen, the radical cation is blue and the dimer is red. By varying the substient group in the molecule, different colors can be obtained. 

Most complexes showing spin-state transitions are in fact of low symmetry. In order to describe their electronic structure it is convenient to employ term symbols appropriate to cubic symmetry and this practice will be followed below. The most common transition-metal ions for which spin-state transitions have been observed are Fe " (3d ), Fe " (3d ) and Co (3d ), a minor role being played by Co " (3d ), Mn " (3d ), as well as Cr " and Mn " (3d ). The relevant ground states for an octahedral disposition of the ligands are LS Ui,(t ,) and HS r2,(t ,e ) for iron(II), LS and HS Ai,(t, e ) for... 

As a contradistinction to the relatively simple case of AI2O3 Cr(III) where the color is due to a metal-centred electronic transition, we mention now on one hand the fact that the Cr(III) ion colors many transition-metal oxides brown (e.g. rutile Ti02 or the perovskite SrTi03 [15]), and on the other hand the fact that the color of blue sapphire (AI2O3 Fe, Ti [16]) is not simply due to a metal-centred transition. By way of illustration Fig. 1 shows the diffuse reflection spectrum of SrTiOj and SrTi03 Cr(III) [17], and Fig. 2 the absorption spectrum of Al203 Ti(III) and Al203 Ti(III), Fe(III) [18]. It has been shown that these colors are due to MMCT transitions and cannot simply be described by metal-centred transitions [19],... 

---