Synthesis of different cobalt compounds through ligand exchange was performed in this laboratory. Electroconductivities and Infrared spectrophotometry of the compounds were conducted to observe the effects of the exchanges.

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Abstract

Ligand exchange is among the most popular topics in the area of metal complexes. One of the interesting aspects of cobalt ligand exchange is its slow reactivity. Because of this, it is possible to study cobalt complexing with much greater intensity than other metals allow. Synthesis of different cobalt compounds through ligand exchange was performed in this laboratory. Electroconductivities and Infrared spectrophotometry of the compounds were conducted to observe the effects of the exchanges. With this in mind, we delved deeper into ligand exchange by attempting to synthesize another cobalt compound using the bidentate ligand, 2,2 bipyridine.

Introduction

Cobalt has a coordination number of six, which means that there are six points of ligand attachment, leading to cobalt's ability to form octahedral complexes:

Figure 1: Cobalt's octahedral structure

Cobalt forms such complexes by reacting with Schiff bases and macrocyclic ligand complexes. (Hop, 1996) Schiff bases, or imines, are compounds that contain a carbon double bonded to an oxygen, resulting from the nucleophilic addition reaction between an aldehyde and a primary amine. (Bailey, 1995) This ability of cobalt to form so many different complexes is of great interest because