Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-b-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/paper-2/b8/b/iii/solution
Past exam of the chemistry B course of the University of Cambridge 2025 Paper 2 B8 b iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
The readily displaced acetonitrile sites have both been exhausted. A second chloride would have to displace a strongly bound carbonyl ligand, open the chelate ring, or associate to an already 18-electron center to make an unfavorable crowded 20-electron species. The product is neutral, so further chloride uptake also lacks the charge-neutralization advantage of and would generate an anionic complex if substitution occurred. The chelate effect disfavors loss of the tethered pyridine, while strong pi backbonding helps retain CO under the stated conditions. These combined kinetic and bonding arguments explain the absence of further reaction. The 18-electron rule alone would not forbid replacing CO by chloride, since that replacement is isoelectronic; it therefore cannot be the whole explanation.
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