Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-b-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-2/b9/e/ii/solution

Each trisilanol cage loses its three hydroxyl protons and supplies a facial tridentate silanolate ligand of charge . Two such coordination ligands replace all six chlorides of tungsten(VI), giving
with approximately octahedral coordination. tungsten remains , is , and is bound to six oxygen donors, three from each cage. The six liberated protons combine with the six chlorides to give six HCl; no W=O bond or tungsten reduction is needed. The molecular formula is . This bis(cage) tungsten structure was directly prepared and characterized in the primary literature.[ref]

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