Question

Is water a bidentate ligand?

Answer 1

Water is a monodentate ligand, The species which tends to give electrons to establish a coordination bond to the metal atom in a coordination compound is called a ligand.

1. The type or quantity of donor atoms in a molecule can be used to classify ligands.
2. Monodentate ligands are substances that contain only one donor atom and the ability to accept electrons from only one position.
3. Or, to put it another way, monodentate ligands are ligands that directly establish a single coordination bond with a central metal atom.
4. For example, monodentate ligands include ammonia or chloride ions.
5. In contrast, ligands containing many atoms from which they can form a coordination bond with a metal atom are known as bidentate ligands.
6. Consider ethylene diamine. Given that it contains oxygen, which has a single electron, water is a form of monodentate ligand.
7. However, due to the presence of two lone pairs of electrons, it appears that water is divalent; However, a bidentate ligand must have two different donor atoms.

Hence, water is a monodentate ligand.