"A millennial overview of transition metal chemistry" #chempaperaday 100

I wanted to dedicate the 100th reading to F. Albert Cotton who I believe deserved a Nobel Prize in chemistry. You can read a short biography of him here:

http://rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/54/95.full.pdf

and here his biography as a book:

http://www.amazon.com/My-Life-Golden-Age-Chemistry/dp/0128012161/ref=la_B001IR1HU6_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415238927&sr=1-4

The paper is a very short summary of transition metal chemistry starting with Werner complexes. I want to point a couple of his notes from the paper:

 "I note that the year 2000 is not the first year of the third millennium, no matter what the arithmetically-challenged of this world may like to think."

"At the beginning of the first millennium (i.e., six days after the birthday arbitrarily assumed for Jesus"

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2000/DT/B001668N#!divAbstract

"Fitting the Pieces of the Puzzle: The δ Bond" #chempaperaday 99

Multiple bonds between metal atoms! My favorite! I am in love with them since I've seen the first structure and molecular orbital diagram of [Re2Cl8]2-. I think there is nothing more amazing than having multiple bonds between two metals.

This is a "Viewpoint" and it's written for the "50th anniversary of the first paper describing a species with a quadruple bond by a team led by F. A. Cotton..."

It's not only a good summary of great work by him and his students, but also a great text full of hints how and with which instrumentation you should approach problems in your research.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021%2Fic500119h


 

"Homoleptic Organocobalt(III) Compounds with Intermediate Spin" #chempaperaday 98

This could be my favorite paper that I've read this week. I wrote it before. I like trends. I like systematic studies that allow you to compare results. This complex complete the "homoleptic perhaloaryl compounds of first-row transition metals" with the general formula of [M(C6X5)x]q-. So, now you can look at the first row transition metals with this formula and compare why they behave similar/different. I really like the discussion and characterization of the complex.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021%2Fic501719y

"Can One σ*-Antibonding Orbital Interact with Six Electrons of Lewis Bases? Analysis of a Multiply Interacting σ* Orbital" #chempaperaday 97

This paper is really interesting. Synthesis of the tin complex is very straightforward. But, the structure and the interpretation is exciting. To be honest, when I first saw the paper, I said "there is nothing special about it. I am sure thousands of complexes have similar structures and same interactions can be seen." But, after reading the discussion, (obviously) I changed my opinion. Also, I like the honesty of the authors

"We wish to report here the first example which is beyond our aforementioned common knowledge of dative bonds."

 http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021%2Fom500951e

"Formation of an Oxidant-Sensible Pd(II) Coordination Compound and Its 1H NMR Specific Characterization" #chempaperaday 96

Journal of Chemical Education is one of my favorite journals. There are so many papers that really help you to learn more about chemistry even if you are not an undergraduate student (anymore). But, you are always a student.

This paper is obviously one of them and in fact it's not a "simple" undergraduate experiment.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021%2Fed500447f