Scorpionate Ligand

The term scorpionate ligand refers to a tridentate ligand which would bind to a metal in a fac manner. The most popular class of scorpionates are the hydrotris(pyrazolyl)borates or Tp ligands. These were also the first to become popular. These ligands first appeared in journals in 1966 from the then little-known DuPont chemist Swiatoslaw Trofimenko. Trofimenko called this discovery "a new and fertile field of remarkable scope".

The term scorpionate comes from the fact that the ligand can bind a metal with two donor sites like the pincers of a scorpion; the third and final donor site reaches over the plane formed by the metal and the other two donor atoms to bind to the metal. The binding can be thought of as being like a scorpion grabbing the metal with two pincers before stinging it.

While many scorpionate ligands are of the Tp class, many other scorpionate ligands are known. For example the Tm and tripodal phosphine classes have an equally good claim to be scorpionate ligands. Many of the scorpionate ligands have a central boron atom which bears a total of four groups, but it is possible to create ligands which use other central atoms.