Sulfur Oxides as Ligands in Coordination Compounds

Donor molecules undergo dramatic changes in their chemical properties on coordination to a transition-metal atom. Highly reactive species can be trapped and studied as ligands. Conversely, stable compounds can be activated to undergo novel reactions. Sulfur dioxide complexes have generally been studied from a structural viewpoint, their reactivity having been somewhat neglected. The unstable sulfur oxides SO, S₂O, and S₂O₂ are still often regarded as laboratory curiosities. Their successful stabilization in transition-metal complexes has now made them accessible to detailed study, in the course of which many relationships to the chemistry of SO₂ complexes have become apparent.