LIGAND NAMES IN COORDINATION COMPOUNDS
Neutral Ligands:
FORMULA NAME* New IUPAC Name Convention
H2O aqua aqua
NH3 ammine ammine
NO nitrosyl nitrosyl
CO carbonyl carbonyl
NH2CH2CH2NH2 ethylenediamine (en) ethylenediamine (en)
NH2CH2CH2NHCH2CH2NH2 diethylenetriamine (dien) diethylenetriamine (dien)
Anionic Ligands: (The underlined atom is bound to the transition metal.)
FORMULA NAME* New IUPAC Name Convention
F- fluoro fluorido
Cl- chloro chlorido
Br- bromo bromido
I- iodo iodido
OH- hydroxo hydroxido
O2- oxo oxido
CN- cyano cyanido-κC
NC- isocyano cyanido-κN
SCN- thiocyanato thiocyanato-κS
NCS- isothiocyanato thiocyanato-κN
N nitro nitrito-κN
-
O O
NO2-
NO2- as ONO– nitrito nitrito-κO
O carbonato carbonato-κO
C
- O O -
CO32-
- O O oxalato (ox) oxalato (ox)
O O -
C2O42-
SO42- as OSO32- sulfato sulfato
O
ethylenediaminetetraacetato ethylenediaminetetraacetato
-
(edta) (edta)
O O
N O -
- O N
- O O
O
We use *. We will accept both.
Examples:
[Cr(NH3)3(OH2)3]3+ Na2[PtCl2(ox)2]
(a) NCS bound through the N
(b) SCN bound through the S
In the first example the name is written as
tetraamminechloronitrocobalt(III)chloride
[Co(NH3)4(NO2)Cl]Cl tetra-ammine-chloro-nitro-cobalt(III)-chloride
tetra-ammine-chlorido-nitrito-κN-cobalt(III)-chloride
[Co(NH3)4ONOCl]Cl tetra-ammine-chloro-nitrito-cobalt(III)-chloride
tetra-ammine-chlorido-nitrito-κO-cobalt(III)-chloride
[Cr(NH3)4(OH)2]Br tetra-ammine-di-hydroxo-chromium(III)-bromide
tetra-ammine-di-hydroxido-chromium(III)-bromide
K3[CoF6] potassium-hexa-fluoro-cobaltate(III)
potassium-hexa-fluorido-cobaltate(III)
