Abstract
SEVERAL bivalent metals (nickel, palladium, platinum, copper and silver) are known to exhibit a planar distribution of valencies in their quadri-covalent co-ordination compounds. On the other hand, it has been shown that, in certain derivatives of quadrivalent platinum and univalent copper and silver1, the four valencies of the metal atom have a tetrahedral arrangement, so that it appears highly probable that the bond distribution of quadri-covalent metals is determined by their principal valency. We have now examined some derivatives of bivalent tin and lead, and find, in agreement with this view, that they are planar. It is well known that quadrivalent tin and lead, like carbon, silicon and germanium show a tetrahedral disposition of valencies ; quadrivalent tin is of particular interest, since it furnished one of the first examples2 of optical activity due to an asymmetric atom other than carbon.
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References
Cox, Wardlaw and Webster, J. Chem. Soc., 775 (1936); Mann, Purdie and Wells, J. Chem. Soc., 1503 (1936).
Pope and Peachey, Proc. Chem. Soc., 42, 116 (1900).
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Cox, E., SHORTER, A. & WARDLAW, W. Stereochemistry of Bivalent Tin and Lead. Nature 139, 71–72 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139071c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139071c0
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