Werners Triumph

The most convincing evidence for Werner s theory came in 1907, when his student, Czech chemist, J. V. Dubsky, successfully synthesized the elusive violeo (cis) isomer of CoCl3 (NH3)4, predicted to exist by coordination theory but not by chain theory. As Werner had predicted, this complex underwent rapid solvolysis in aqueous solution, making isolation difficult. After Dubsky proved the existence of c -CoCl3 (NH3)4, Jprgensen conceded to coordination theory. Jprgensen died in 1908, having never met Werner face to face. 

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Whereas Kekule disposed of complex compounds by banishing them to the limbo of molecular compounds , other chemists developed highly elaborate theories to explain their constitution and properties. The most successful and widely accepted of such pre-Werner theories was the chain theory,47 advanced by Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand (1826-1897)4 and developed by Sophus Mads Jorgensen (1837—1914).46 49 50 Although Werner s ideas eventually triumphed, this did not invalidate Jorgensen s observations. On the contrary, his experiments have proven completely reliable and provided the experimental foundation not only for the Blomstrand—Jorgensen chain theory but also for Werner s coordination theory. 

Werner s final triumph in support of his theory came in the optical resolution of a purely inorganic synthetic complex. Such compounds are still rare, but a few have been prepared in optically active form cw-[Rh(NHS02NH)2(H20)2], [Pt(S5)3]2— and cts,cts,cis-[Co(NH3)2(H20)2-X2]+ (X = CN or N02),28 though the cyano group does contain carbon. 

But even then critics still surfaced. It had been speculated that optical activity was an exclusive property of carbon, and Werner s optical isomers contained carbon, so it was imagined that this might be the source of optical activity. In 1914 with the help of his doctoral student Sophie Matissen, Werner dispelled even this doubt by isolating an optically active complex that contained nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen, but no carbon. The triumph was complete. 

Sophus Mads J0rgensen (1837-1914), a Danish chemist who made many of the eariy important experimental discoveries in combination chemistry, but fought a long rear-guard action against Werner s conceptual interpretation, until finally acknowledging the latter s triumph in the early twentieth century. 

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