What distinguishes a central metal atom in a coordination compound?▾
The central metal atom (or ion) acts as a Lewis acid, accepting electron pairs from ligands. It is typically a transition metal and forms dative bonds with donor atoms of the ligands, being at the core of the coordination entity.
How do you determine the denticity of a ligand?▾
Denticity is the number of donor atoms a single ligand uses to form coordinate bonds with the central metal. For example, H₂O has one donor O atom (monodentate), while ethylenediamine (en) has two donor N atoms (bidentate), and EDTA has six donor atoms (hexadentate).
Is the coordination number always equal to the number of ligands?▾
No, the coordination number is the total number of *donor atoms* directly bonded to the central metal, not necessarily the number of ligands. If a ligand is bidentate, one ligand contributes two donor atoms to the coordination number, so the coordination number will be greater than the number of ligands.
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