Question

Can anyone explain ligands, complex ion and amphoteric substances that can act as an acid or base. (simply terms - high school student) It is for a lab I did of separation and identification of metal cations and I do not understand this to write a discussion part on my lab report. thank you

Answer 1

Ligands:

In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule (functional group) that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding between metal and ligand generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's electron pairs. The nature of metal-ligand bonding can range from covalent to ionic. Furthermore, the metal-ligand bond order can range from one to three. Ligands are viewed as Lewis bases, although rare cases are known to involve Lewis acidic "ligand."

Complex ion:

A complex ion has a metal ion at its centre with a number of other molecules or ions surrounding it. These can be considered to be attached to the central ion by co-ordinate (dative covalent) bonds

Amphoteric substances:

An amphoteric substance is a substance that has the ability to act either as an acid or a base. Remember that acids donate protons (or accept electron pairs), and bases accept protons. Amphoteric substances can do either. So, we can think of an amphoteric substance as something like a double agent.