Carbon monoxide, CO, is an important ligand in coordination chemistry. When CO is reacted with nickel metal, the product is [Ni(CO)₄] which is a toxic, pale yellow liquid.

a. What is the oxidation number for nickel in this compound?

b. Given that [Ni(CO)₄] is a diamagnetic molecule with a tetrahedral geometry, what is the electron configuration of nickel in this compound?

c. Write the name for [Ni(CO)₄] using the nomenclature rules for coordination compounds.

Video transcript

Hello everyone. Today, we have the following problem. Consider the complex ion first identify the oxidation number for zinc in the complex. So to determine the oxidation number, we have to take into account the ligand which is the ammonia. So this ammonia here is NH three and it has a zero charge. Now there's a complex charge in which we have the zinc and the ligands. So this overall charge of the molecule you would do the oxidation number is equal to two and therefore, we would have positive two is equal to the oxidation number. The oxidation number for zinc added to the four k, the four compounds of the ammonia multiplied by zero as it is a neutral charge. And solving for that, we get an oxidation number of zinc equaling positive two. For a second part of this question given that this molecule complex ion is a diamagnetic ion with a tetrahedron geometry, provide the electron configuration of zinc in this complex. So zinc as an atomic number of 30 according to the periodic table. Now, for the noble gas configuration or neutral zinc, we want to first list the noble gas that comes just before the zinc and that is argon. So we write a r the symbol for argon in brackets, followed by the subsequent electron blocks that we passed through. So we pass through the forest and the 3d orbital blocks. So if you pass through the 3d, which comes first, we have 10 electrons and then we have the four S two that we pass through. And so now we need to find the electron configuration or zinc two plus. This means zinc lost two electrons and it will lose it from the highest energy orbital or the four s orbital. And so if we take away those two electrons, we are left with the argon in brackets, this is our noble gas configuration followed by 3d 10. This means that we have a full orbital and this means that all electrons are paired up. So this is dia magnetic. And then for our last part, we have to, to write the systematic name for this complex ion. So we know we have a transition metal which is zinc. And then we have this neutral ligand, which we have four of those, we would call that a tetra for four, followed by amine. So that's tetra amy. Now, we have to name the transition metal after the lances. For example, we have zinc as we stated before. So that zinc two plus it's converted into or gets named zinc with two in parentheses. And then we have to take into account the C ionic complex metal names are not modified. And therefore, this name would just be tetra amine think. And so if we look at our answer choices, we see answer choice. C thus reflects the answers to all these parts. And with that, we have solved the problem overall, I hope is helped. And until next time.