While among the great majority of coordination compounds the elementary atoms acting as centers of the complex structure are more electropositive than the elementary atoms which accept the bonding of the adding molecular components, there exists a small group of compounds, for which the opposite is the case and to which attention has recently been drawn (1).With these words, which introduce his treatment of "complex compounds with negative central atoms," Alfred Werner , the founder of coordination chemistry (2), recognized as early as 1909 the existence of a peculiar class of compounds in which the coordination center is a nonmetal surrounded by one or more metal atoms that function as ligands (3). Although these so-called metallo complexes are of great theoretical interest, even their existence is still unknown to most professional chemists, not to mention students of chemistry. Consequently, the syntheses and characterizations of representatives of these scholastically neglected substances are described herein (4). The introduction of such intriguing and exotic compounds into the laboratory curriculum has served not only to increase student motivation but also to add a thought-provoking dimension to the more traditional topics in coordination chemistry.Werner concluded his first discussion of "complex compounds with negative central atoms" with the prophetic words:From the above it is evident that various beginnings for the development of the chemistry of this remarkably peculiar class of compounds exist. In any case, however, the field is much more extensive than is apparent today. It will therefore first be necessary to investigate in which areas the existence of such compounds can be established (la, p. 249).Accordingly, a general background discussion of such compounds will be given prior to the specific preparations to be described in this experiment.
DefinitionsBefore Werner was even born, Johann Wilhelm Hittorf , in his classic series of experiments on the migration of ions (1853-1859), established the fundamental distinction between complex salts and double salts by showing that when solutions of salts such as K[Ag(CN)2], K^PtCLt], K^FelCNjcl, and K3[Fe(CN)6] are electrolyzed, the transition metal migrates to the anode (5). Opposed to these complex salts, the bracketed portion of which remains intact as a unit in solution, are the double salts, such as the alums, M(I)2S04-M(II1)2(S04)3-24H20, which dissociate in solution