Topic 15 Transition Metals Flashcards
What causes the colour of a transition metal complex?
d orbitals are split by the energy in the ligands. Light is needed for electron promotion. The colour not absorbed is the colour seen.
Transition metal
A d-block element that forms one or more stable ions with incompletely-filled d-orbitals.
6 properties of transition metals
- Hard solids.
- Have high melting & boiling temperatures.
- Act as catalysts.
- Form coloured ions & compounds.
- Form ions with different oxidation numbers.
- Form ions with incompletely-filled d-orbitals.
Scandium & Zinc
They are d-block elements, but not transition metals as they only form one ion and they do not form coloured compounds. Zn2+ & Sc3+.
What do transition metal ions involving higher oxidation numbers usually contain?
An electronegative element, e.g., oxygen.
How do transition metals form ions with different oxidation numbers?
They lose their 4s electrons before their 3d electrons. They can lose a variable number of electrons.
Ti
OS: +3, +4
V
OS: +2, +3, +4; +5
Cr
OS: +3, +6
Mn
OS: +2, +4; +7
Fe
OS: +2, +3
Co
OS: +2, +3
Ni
OS: +2
Cu
OS: +1, +2
Why does highest common oxidation number increase from Ti to Mn?
All the 4s & 3d electrons become involved in bonding.
Why are ions with higher oxidation numbers less common from Fe to Cu?
The increasing nuclear charge means electrons are more strongly attracted to the nucleus and less likely to be involved in bonding.
Equation for a displacement reaction involving a transition metal ion
Mg(s) + Fe2+ (aq) –> Mg2+ (aq) + Fe(s)
Why do transition metal ions attract electron-rich species, incl. water molecules, more strongly?
Transition metal ions tend to have smaller ionic radii than non-transition metals in the same period.
Ligand
Species that uses a lone pair of electrons to form a dative bond with a metal ion.
Complex
A species containing a metal ion joined to ligands.
Complex ion
A complex with an overall positive or negative charge.
Coordination number
Number of dative bonds in a complex.
What letter do ligands with a negative charge end in?
o, e.g., Cl- = chloro.
Common ligands
- Water H2O, aqua.
- Hydroxide OH-, hydroxo.
- Ammonia NH3, ammine.
What happens when white light is passed through a solution containing a transition metal complex?
Some wavelengths of light are absorbed by the complex, so the light emerging will contain proportionately more of the complementary colour. E.g., red light will emerge green/blue.
What ions do not form coloured compounds?
Ions with completely filled 3d energy levels & ions with no electrons in their 3d orbitals.
The amount of energy gained by an electron when it is promoted in a transition metal
Proportional to the frequency of light absorbed.
Inversely proportional to the wavelength of light.
How do changes in its electron configuration give a transition metal ion its colour?
When ligands attach to the metal ion, the d-orbital splits into 2 levels with slightly different energies. When one of the electrons in the lower level absorbs energy, it is promoted/excited to a higher energy level. The bigger the energy difference between the two levels, the more energy the electron absorbs.
Six-fold coordination
Complexes, in which there are six ligands forming coordinate bonds with the transition metal ion.
Example of a linear transition metal complex
[H3N–> Ag <–NH3]+ This is formed in Tollen’s test.
How can we predict the shape of a transition metal complex?
Halve the number of electrons donated. E.g., 12 electrons donated = octahedral, usually with 6 ligands. Other common shapes are tetrahedral, square planar & linear.
Square planar
Shape containing a central atom or ion surrounded by 4 atoms or ligands in the same plane with bond angles of 90 degrees.
Cis-platin
Square planar molecule, with a Pt(II) ion, two ammonia ligands & two chloride ion ligands, used in cancer treatment because it forms a bond between the two strands of DNA, so that it cannot separate and cells cannot divide.
Trans-platin
More toxic & less effective in cancer treatment.
Monodentate ligand
One that forms a dative bond with a metal ion.
Bidentate ligand
One that forms 2 dative bonds with a metal ion.
Multidentate ligand
One that forms several dative bonds with a metal ligand.
NH2CH2CH2NH2
Bidentate ligand ethylenediamine/ 1,2-diaminoethane/ en.
It uses the lone pairs on each of the nitrogen atoms to attach to the metal ion.
EthyleneDiamineTetraAcetic Acid
EDTA4-, a multidentate ligand. It is the same as en, except each of the hydrogens attached to the nitrogen atoms is replaced by -CH2COOH. Then each of the H+ ions in the COOH groups is lost. This means EDTA4- can form 6 dative bonds as it has 6 lone pairs.
Ligand exchange reaction: monodentate ligands are replaced by a bidentate or multidentate ligand.
The total number of species increases meaning the systems is more disordered, so the entropy of the system increases. This increases the stability of the products instead of the reactants, so product formation is favoured.
The largest part of haemoglobin is protein. Within which, there are 4 haem groups. What is inside each haem group?
There are 4 nitrogen atoms that hold an Fe2+ ion by forming dative bonds with it in a square planar structure. There is a fifth dative bond from the protein to the Fe2+ ion.
What allows carbon monoxide to act as a ligand?
It has a lone pair of electrons on its carbon atom.
What happens when carbon monoxide is breathed in?
Carbon monoxide forms a stronger dative bond with haemoglobin, so the carbon monoxide replaces the oxygen already bound to the haemoglobin in a ligand-substitution reaction.
Haemoglobin + oxygen <—> oxyhaemoglobin
Haemoglobin + carbon monoxide —> carboxyhaemoglobin.
4 main types of transition metal reaction
Redox: the oxidation number of the transition metal ion changes.
Acid-base reaction: at least one of the ligands gains or loses a hydrogen ion.
Ligand exchange:one or more of the ligands around the transition metal ion is replaced by a different ligand.
Coordination number change: the number of ligands changes.