ligand
Sign in to savethumb|200px|Cobalt complex cobalt tetracarbonyl hydride|HCo(CO)4 with five ligands
Article
26 sectionsContents
- History
- Strong field and weak field ligands
- Classification of ligands as L and X
- Polydentate and polyhapto ligand motifs and nomenclature
- Denticity
- Hapticity
- Ligand motifs
- Trans-spanning ligands
- Ambidentate ligand
- Bridging ligand
- Binucleating ligand
- Metal–ligand multiple bond
- Spectator ligand
- Bulky ligands
- Chiral ligands
- Hemilabile ligands
- Non-innocent ligand
- Common ligands
- Examples of common ligands (by field strength)
- Other generally encountered ligands (alphabetical)
- Ligand exchange
- Ligand–protein binding database
- See also
- Explanatory notes
- References
- External links
thumb|200px|Cobalt complex cobalt tetracarbonyl hydride|HCo(CO)4 with five ligands
In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule with a 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, often through Lewis bases. 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 "ligands".