Abstract

This article reviews coordination compounds starting with their definition. It gives an overview on the classification of ligands, deals with the most common examples of nomenclature, and describes the possible isomers encountered with the described ligand types. A new chapter of examples of representative coordination compounds throughout the Periodic Table of elements has been added in order to show the different behavior of coordination found for alkali and alkaline earth metal ions, main group elements, transition metals, and rare earths. These examples are followed by the theories of coordination and bonding, as well as their chemical and physical properties, ie, stability, steric selectivity, reactivity comprising oxidation and reduction, photochemistry and magnetism. In a later section, applications of coordination compounds will be given. The role of these compounds in industrial processes as well as potential applications in research are described, and examples are shown. This article also gives some examples of supramolecular compounds, which are part of coordination chemistry, however, supramolecular chemistry is given a chapter on its own elsewhere in this series.