Structure and Basic Properties
The compound is a square planar, 16-electron complex. It is usually obtained in the form of a red-violet crystalline solid from the reaction of rhodium(III) chloride with excess triphenylphosphine. The synthesis is conducted in refluxing ethanol which helps with the reduction. Triphenylphosphine serves as the reducing agent yielding triphenylphosphine oxide.
Read more about this topic: Wilkinson's Catalyst
Famous quotes containing the words structure, basic and/or properties:
“The syntactic component of a grammar must specify, for each sentence, a deep structure that determines its semantic interpretation and a surface structure that determines its phonetic interpretation.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“Just as the constant increase of entropy is the basic law of the universe, so it is the basic law of life to be ever more highly structured and to struggle against entropy.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
“A drop of water has the properties of the sea, but cannot exhibit a storm. There is beauty of a concert, as well as of a flute; strength of a host, as well as of a hero.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)