Monodentate ligands
What Monodentate ligands means in Chemistry A-Level, as defined for AQA, OCR.
Definitions of Monodentate ligands
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Reference: OCR
Water and ammonia both act as these, bonding through a single atom, so the coordination number stays six and the complex remains octahedral.
Ligands that donate one lone pair from one donor atom, so each forms one coordinate bond.
Ligands such as H₂O, NH₃, Cl⁻ and CN⁻ that donate one pair each.
Topics that use Monodentate ligands
- General properties of transition metals (A-level only) (AQA A-Level)
- Transition elements (OCR A-Level)
Related terms
- bidentate ligands
- Ligand
- Balanced ionic equations for precipitation
- Balancing complex half-equations
- Bidentate ligands giving octahedral complexes
- Bond angles and shape prediction
- Boundary cases scandium and zinc
- Calculating oxidation state from a formula
Using Monodentate ligands in the exam
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