University Chemistry ›› 2025, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (1): 234-246.doi: 10.12461/PKU.DXHX202405081

• Survey of Chemistry • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Creation, Inheritance and Development of Chiral Coordination Stereochemistry

Xueming Fang, Leiqi Chen, Xianying Wang, Dongdong Ding, Ziang Nan, Shilin Zhang, Lirong Lin, Hui Zhang   

  1. National Demonstration Center for Experimental Chemistry Education (Xiamen University), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian Province, China
  • Received:2024-05-07 Accepted:2024-07-11 Published:2025-01-06
  • Contact: Hui Zhang E-mail:huizhang@xmu.edu.cn

Abstract: 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of our research on the resolution and absolute asymmetric synthesis of cis-[CoBr(NH3)(en)2]Br2 in the department of chemistry at Xiamen University. It has been 113 years since the founder of coordination chemistry, Alfred Werner, successfully resoluted the two series of complexes cis-[CoX(NH3)(en)2]X2 (X = Br-, Cl-) in 1911. In order to commemorate Werner and his team’s extraordinary contributions to the founding and development of coordination chemistry, this article for the first time elaborates on the initial exploration, subsequent progress, and related studies on the resolution (Alfred Werner with Victor Louis King and Ernst Scholze) of cis-[CoX(NH3)(en)2]X2and the absolute asymmetric synthesis (Kouichi Asakura) of cis-[CoBr(NH3)(en)2]Br2. It elucidates the important role of coordination stereochemistry of chiral octahedral complexes in the history of scientific development, and the “electron transfer catalysis-crystallization induction” mechanism based on the basic principles of coordination chemistry is proposed for the absolute asymmetric synthesis of cis-[CoBr(NH3)(en)2]Br2.

Key words: Coordination chemistry, Stereochemistry, Octahedral complex, Chirality, Resolution, Absolute asymmetric synthesis, Reaction mechanism