The oxalate ion is a bidentate ligand as indicated in Figure 21.8. Would you expect the carbonate ion to be a monodentate or bidentate ligand? Explain your reasoning.

Video transcript

All right. Hi, everyone. So this question is asking us if ethylene diamine is a bent ligand is a mean expected to be a Monod or bent ligand. Why option A says that amine is a mono dentate ligand because it only has one donor atom. Option B says amine is a bent ligand because it has two donor atoms. And option C amine is neither a Monod nor a bent ligand because it does not have donor atoms. Now recall really quickly that ethylene diamine is a bent lend in which there are two nitrogen atoms separated by two carbon atoms in between. Now, the term bate refers to the fact that this lid in question, can bond through electron pairs from two different donor atoms. In this case, we have two nitrogen atoms each with one pair of electrons that can participate in bonding. Hence the term bent. Now recall the the distinction to make between an amine and a diamine. Like the one pictured on the screen here is that amines have only one nitrogen whereas diamine have two. So here if I move the structure of ethylene diamine off to the side, right? By contrast, a standard a mean is only going to have one nitrogen atom. So because it has only one nitrogen atom with one single lone pair, it's only going to have the one donor atom as opposed to the two that ethylene diamine has. So therefore, right, our amine is going to be a mono dentate ligand because it only has one donor atom and therefore only one electron pair that can participate in bonding. So our answer is going to be option a the multiple choice right, amine is a mono dentate ligand because it only has one donor atom and there you have it. So with that being said, thank you so very much for watching and I hope you found this helpful.