LIGAND EXCHANGE KINETICS OF THE HEXAMETHANOLCOBALT(II) TETRAFLUOROBORATE COMPLEX

Abstract The study of rates and mechanisms of ligand exchange reactions in coordination compounds has received a great deal of attention in the literature.1,2 A volume of evidence has been accumulated to indicate that in the ligand substitution reactions of octahedral transition metal ion complexes, bond breaking is more important than bond formation in the determination of the reaction rate. Unfortunately, nearly all studies of this type carried out on octahedral complexes have been done in the free ligand as solvent.2 Under these conditions there is no opportunity to study definitively the role of the free ligand in the exchange mechanism. Ideally, the study of the ligand exchange reaction should be carried out in an inert solvent so that the concentration of the free ligand can be varied with no fear of the solvent participating in the exchange reaction.