octahedrallycoordinated

Octahedrally coordinated refers to the geometric arrangement of atoms or ligands around a central atom where six other atoms or ligands are positioned at the vertices of an octahedron. This specific coordination number of six is common in inorganic chemistry, particularly with transition metal complexes.

In an octahedrally coordinated complex, the central atom occupies the center of the octahedron, and the six surrounding entities are equidistant from it. The ligands, which are the atoms or molecules bound to the central atom, are typically arranged along the axes of a Cartesian coordinate system, with two ligands along the z-axis and four ligands in the xy-plane. This arrangement results in bond angles of 90 degrees between adjacent ligands and 180 degrees between opposite ligands.

The term octahedrally coordinated is often used when describing the crystal structures of ionic compounds, where cations are surrounded by anions, or vice versa, in an octahedral fashion. For example, in many rock-salt structure compounds, each cation is octahedrally coordinated by anions, and each anion is octahedrally coordinated by cations. In coordination chemistry, complexes like [Co(NH3)6]3+ exemplify octahedral coordination, where the central cobalt ion is surrounded by six ammonia ligands. Understanding this geometry is crucial for predicting the physical and chemical properties of such compounds, including their spectroscopic characteristics and reactivity.