I Quantum Mechanics and Chemical I Bonding in Inorganic Complexes

edited by: Eric S. Proskauer and Leonard W. Fine

I C. J. Ballhausen University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark

I

Quantum Mechanics and Chemical Bonding in Inorganic Complexes

I

11. Valency and inorganic metal complexes

The history of chemistry has taught us that whenever a theory cannot put numbers to findings, but shrouds itself in verbal mist, i t is time to abandon it. Valency and Inorganic Metal Complexes The Valence Bond Method In his hook nuhlished in 1927 Sidewick summed UD the electronic interpretation of coordination as follows In the first dace it is clear that the links which ioin the units of a coordination comolex to the central atom are covalent. This is really self-evident if our'theorv is true. since Werner showed that thev were nc.t i w n w c l , and a ctwlrnt h n k i r themly altrrnativr whwh *re have ndmittcd: I m r 11 13 ~ ~ t i t h l ~ ~t,nclu>i\.ely ~hed by I I W t ~ n i l 1estsof l POmctrtral and opt~