Structure
At first glance, a species with the formula MoCl2 might be expected to adopt a close-packed structure, e.g. the cadmium chloride, rutile, and cadmium iodide motifs. Molybdenum(II), which is a rather large ion, prefers to form compounds with metal-metal bonds, i.e. metal clusters. In fact all "lower halides" (i.e. where halide/M ratio is <4) in the "early transition metal series (Ti, V, Cr, Mn triads) do.
One form of MoCl2 has the formula Mo6Cl12. This species is polymeric consisting of cubic Mo6Cl84+ clusters interconnected by chloride ligands that bridge from one cluster to cluster. This material converts readily to salts of the dianion 2-. In this anion, each Mo bears one terminal chloride but is otherwise part of an Mo6 octahedron embedded inside a cube defined by eight chloride centers. Thus, the coordination environment of each Mo is four triply bridging chloride ligands, four Mo neighbors, and one terminal Cl. The cluster has a "magic" electron count of 24e, four being provided by each Mo2+.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Read more about this topic: Molybdenum(II) Chloride
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“It is difficult even to choose the adjective
For this blank cold, this sadness without cause.
The great structure has become a minor house.
No turban walks across the lessened floors.
The greenhouse never so badly needed paint.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Just as a new scientific discovery manifests something that was already latent in the order of nature, and at the same time is logically related to the total structure of the existing science, so the new poem manifests something that was already latent in the order of words.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)
“One theme links together these new proposals for family policy—the idea that the family is exceedingly durable. Changes in structure and function and individual roles are not to be confused with the collapse of the family. Families remain more important in the lives of children than other institutions. Family ties are stronger and more vital than many of us imagine in the perennial atmosphere of crisis surrounding the subject.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)