Transition metal complexes and water of crystallisation/water ligands.

For the transtion metal complex, Cu(NH3)4SO4.H2O, is the water a ligand or water of crystallisation? I have looked online and most say this means its a water of crystallisation but one said water ligands are just written that way with salts.

Thanks in advance.

Reply 1

charco

Study Forum Helper

Original post by joycem12

If the water appears after a full stop then it's represented as water of crystallisation ... however in the solid lattice the water is attached as a ligand to the transition metal ion.

There is some grey area with the tetrammine complex due to a phenomenon called the Jahn-Teller effect. This means that the axial bond of the d⁹ complex ion is rather longer than the equatorial sites. The sulfate ion can be considered a balancing negative ion in the complex.

A better formula for this would be [Cu(NH₃)₄(H₂O)₂]SO₄

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jahn%E2%80%93Teller_effect

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Transition metal complexes and water of crystallisation/water ligands.

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