INTRODUCTION TO INORGANIC CHEMISTRY (SKT1013)

SEM 2 2021/2022

EXPERIMENT 1
COMPLEX ION OF NICKEL (II) CHLORIDE

1.1 OBJECTIVE
Upon completion of this experiment, students should be able to:
1. describe a colour change in a complex ion due to ligand substitution

1.2 INTRODUCTION
A metal complex has a central metal surrounded by a set of ligands. Ligand is a molecule, atom
or ion that is bonded directly to a central metal by donating a pair of electron (Figure 1.1). The
atom in the ligand (Lewis bases) that forms the coordinate covalent bond to the central atom is
called the donor atoms, because it donates the electron used in bond formation. So, the ligand
must contain at least one lone pair electron. The metal ion or atom (Lewis acid) is the acceptor
atoms because they accept pairs of electrons from ligand. Complex ions containing transition
metals are usually coloured, whereas the complex ions are not if the metal ions from non-
transition metals. The colour of complex ion can be influenced by some factors such as type of
central metal, oxidation state of metal and type of ligands. In this experiment student will learn
the effect of different ligand on the colour of complex ion formed through ligand substitution. A
ligand substitution (exchange) reaction is a reaction in which one ligand in a complex ion is
replaced by another ligand. Therefore, this experiment describes some common ligand
substitution (exchange) reactions involving nickel(II) chloride (NiCl2) as complex metal ion.
Different ligands such as NH3, en, CN- and EDTA generally used in ligand substitution reaction.

Figure 1.1 Ligand is bonded directly to a central metal by donating a pair of electron
 INTRODUCTION TO INORGANIC CHEMISTRY (SKT1013)
SEM 2 2021/2022

Chemicals

Nickel(II) chloride hydrate, NiCl2.6H2O (0.1 M)

Concentrated ammonia solution, NH3
Ethylenediamine, C2H4(NH2)2. Its abbreviation is (en)
Potassium cyanide, KCN (1.0 M)

Dimethylglyoxime, CH₃CCCH₃. Its abbreviation is (dmgH₂)

Apparatus
Beakers (250 mL)
Graduated cylinder
Dropper

1.3 PROCEDURE
1. Put 100 mL of NiCl2.6H2O in seven (7) beakers.
2. Add 50 mL of concentrated NH3 to test tube-2.
3. Add 30 mL of en to test tube-3.
4. Add 50 mL of en to test tube-4.
5. Add 80 mL of en to test tube-5.

6. Add 50 mL of dmgH₂ to test tube-6.

7. Add 50 mL of KCN to test tube-7.
8. Compare the appearance of the test solutions with controlled beaker-1.

1.4 REFERENCES
1. Gispert, J. R. (2008). Coordination Chemistry. John Wiley & Sons.
2. Weller, M., Overton, T., Rourke, J., & Armstrong, F. A. (2014). Inorganic chemistry.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3. https://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/complexions/ligandexch.html
 INTRODUCTION TO INORGANIC CHEMISTRY (SKT1013)
SEM 2 2021/2022

1.5 WORKSHEET EXPERIMENT 1

Test Tube Observation
1 NiCl2.6H2O (controlled)

2 NiCl2.6H2O + concentrated NH3

3 NiCl2.6H2O + 30 mL ethylenediamine (en)

NiCl2.6H2O + 50 mL ethylenediamine (en)

NiCl2.6H2O + 80 mL ethylenediamine (en)

4 NiCl2.6H2O + dimethylglyoxime (dmgH₂)

5 NiCl2.6H2O + KCN

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