A simple method for identifying and distinguishing between the diastereoisomers that result from wrapping polydentate ligands around octahedral metal ions

Abstract

Polydentate ligands can be wrapped around octahedral centres in many different ways. This presents chemists with the challenge of being able to identify or distinguish between all the available isomers, in a straightforward manner, without necessarily having to draw them. Some of the existing nomenclature systems have been reviewed and elements of some of them extended and systematised so that they can readily be used as parts of a descriptive shorthand for the wrapping of a ligand around a metal ion.