Ligands: In coordination chemistry and Complxometric Aanalysis

In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule (functional group) that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. 


The bonding with the metal generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's electron pairs. The nature of metal–ligand bonding can range from covalent to ionic. Furthermore, the metal–ligand bond order can range from one to three. Ligands are viewed as Lewis bases, although rare cases are known to involve Lewis acidic "ligand."

Metals and metalloids are bound to ligands in virtually all circumstances, although gaseous "naked" metal ions can be generated in high vacuum. Ligands in a complex dictate the reactivity of the central atom, including ligand substitution rates, the reactivity of the ligands themselves, and redox. Ligand selection is a critical consideration in many practical areas, including bioinorganic and medicinal chemistry, homogeneous catalysis, and environmental chemistry.

Ligands are classified in many ways, including: charge, size (bulk), the identity of the coordinating atom(s), and the number of electrons donated to the metal (denticity or hapticity). The size of a ligand is indicated by its cone angle.

In Titration And Spectroscopy 

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Complexometric titration (sometimes chelatometry) is a form of volumetric analysis in which the formation of a colored complex ion is used to indicate the end point of a titration. Complexometric titrations are particularly useful for the determination of a mixture of different metal ions in solution. For example the use of EDTA (polydentate ligand) in determination of CaO and MgO for hardness analysis or complexing aluminium ions with TEA

Spectroscopy example is the use of 1 10-phenanthroline (C₁₂H₈N_{2) to} complex Iron III Oxide ion