Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-b-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-2/b6/a/solution
Past exam of the chemistry B course of the University of Cambridge 2021 Paper 2 B6 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Each thiocyanate is a three-metal bridge, -: its nitrogen donates to one metal and its sulfur donates to two other metals. Thus the coordination ligand is ambidentate, but the structure uses both ends and shares the sulfur donor. Each metal receives two nitrogen and four sulfur donors, giving an approximately octahedral coordination sphere. Six donor contacts per metal are consistent with two coordination ligands per metal because each coordination ligand contributes three contacts across the lattice. Sharing these contacts produces a coordination polymer within each layer; the interlayer Van der Waals force does not add coordination bonds. The index counts metal centres, whereas a hapticity label would count adjacent coordinated coordination ligand atoms and would not describe this connectivity correctly.[ref]
Strengthening the Magnetic Interactions in Pseudobinary First-Row Transition Metal Thiocyanates, M(NCS)2 by Euan N. Bassey and others. Structural discussion of the layered first-row metal thiocyanates
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