What is the charge of iron in the following complex: [Fe(H2O)6]Cl2 ?

When attempting to answer a question about complexes, you need to think about three things: the identity of the metal (and its oxidation number), type of ligand (i.e. if it's neutral like H2O or has a negative charge like Cl-, if it's monodentate or polydentate) and the charge of the whole complex.Let's start from the end: charge of the complex isn't stated so you need to figure it out from the counter-ion, which is chloride, Cl-. In order to balance the charge of 2 chloride ions (-1 each), we need a +2 charge, so this is the charge of the complex. The type of ligand in this case is just water, a neutral molecule (i.e. its charge = 0). Therefore, if the whole complex has a charge +2 and the ligand has charge 0, it means that the +2 charge comes from the metal: Fe 2+.

Related Chemistry IB answers

All answers ▸

What is the most effective way to balance redox equations which include hydrogen and oxygen?


How many molecules of water are present in 5g sample?


What is the difference between, Phenol, Phenyl and Benzene


Hydrogen bromide forms a strong acid when dissolved in water whereas hydrogen fluoride forms a weak acid. Distinguish between the terms strong acid and weak acid. State equations to describe the dissociation of each acid in aqueous solution. [3]