How do you name the complex [#Ti(H_2O)(NH_3)Cl_4#]?

1 Answer
Apr 15, 2017

The ligand stems are:

  • #"NH"_3#: ammine
  • #"Cl"^(-)#: chloro
  • #"H"_2"O"#: aqua

By charge balance, titanium has a #+IV# oxidation state. The ligand stems go in alphabetical order with the usual prefixes indicating quantity.

Hence, we call this ammineaquatetrachlorotitanium(IV), without spaces, by default. Since the four chloride ligands occupy an entire plane, there is no isomer (#Delta#, #Lambda#, cis, trans) to discuss.

As a side note, if the titanium oxidation state had been a #-4# (yes, a negative oxidation state is possible), then we would have written "titanate(IV)" instead of "titanium(IV)".