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Bond‐Stretch Isomers: Fact or Artifact?
Author(s) -
Mayer James M.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition in english
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 0570-0833
DOI - 10.1002/anie.199202861
Subject(s) - double bond , octahedron , crystallography , bond length , bond , nothing , chemistry , single bond , stereochemistry , crystal structure , philosophy , organic chemistry , epistemology , group (periodic table) , economics , finance
It's almost a question of faith: Do bond‐stretch isomers exist? This apparent phenomenon first came to light in 1971 when results of X‐ray structural analyses of octahedral molybdenum complexes revealed that compounds with the same arrangement of ligands could differ only, but significantly, in the length of the MO bond. After this and other examples were explained by theory, it seemed that nothing could prevent the final acceptance of the concept. But later experimental studies proved that the different bond lengths were actually an artifact caused by impurities in the crystal. The recent report of the synthesis and characterization of two forms of [Nb(E)Cl 3 (PMe 3 ) 3 ] (E = O, S) by Gibson, McPartlin et al. ( Angewandte Chem. Int. Ed. Engl . 1991 , 104 , 980), however, appears to have started the debate anew.