Guys, im really confused about the concept of ligands. In water, Some metal salts dissolve to give cations and anions. Do the cations, surrounded by water, have ion-dipole interaction with water OR they have covalent bonds with water?

Question

aaronq · Answer

ion-dipole, not covalent

anonymous · Answer

non metals so non covalent

aaronq · Answer

it doesn't have anything to do with them being non-metals.

aaronq · Answer

or metals

anonymous · Answer

hi ezizio

wat's so difficult about ligands?

and the interaction between CATION( which is an ion)  and WATER (which has a dipole.. you might be knowing it)  should be ion-dipole.

anonymous · Answer

transition metals form dative covalent bonds with ligands that have lone pairs?

anonymous · Answer

http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/complexions/whatis.html

anonymous · Answer

in here it says it is covalent bonding and not ion-dipole interaction

anonymous · Answer

hello ezizio.

they are right in saying that its coordinate or (dative covalent) bond.
this dative covalent does not mean the covalent bond existing between C and H in a hydrocarbon.

covalent bond is an all-embracing term and this dative bond comes in it.

anonymous · Answer

hmm so water forms covelent bond with aluminium ion or ion dipole interaction? sorry i still dont understand... why do you bring up covalent bonding between C and H?

anonymous · Answer

just look at the two things, between which your are asking the interaction type.

one is aluminium ion.                                                             an ion
other is water..                                which is not an ion, but a dipole containing entity,

so, the interaction between these two will be ion-dipole interaction. as an ion is interacting with a dipole.

anonymous · Answer

ok so for ligands, is it right to say "The bonding between metal and ligand generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's electron pairs"

anonymous · Answer

yes.. it is a correct statment.

a coordinate or dative bond is formed there.

anonymous · Answer

so in the context of water acting as ligands, it forms a dative covalent bond with metal cations?

anonymous · Answer

water can form a dative covalent bond with metal cations, PROVIDED, the metal cation has vacant orbitals to accept the electron pairs.

and if there is no empty orbital with the metal cation, then a simple ion- dipole attraction will be there.

anonymous · Answer

OH so if there is an empty orbital in the metal cation, there will be a formation of a dative covalent bond. If there is no empty orbital, only ion-dipole interaction exist. correct?

anonymous · Answer

correct

anonymous · Answer

thx anish! can i ask you a question on electrochemistry in a new topic?

anonymous · Answer

yes sure..
you can ask/

anonymous · Answer

it is regarding electrode potential

anonymous · Answer

ok let me close this