THE

TRANS EFFECT IN SQUARE

PLANAR COMPLEXES

Initial attack by the entering group at a square planar Pt(II) centre is from
above or below the plane. Nucleophile Y then coordinates to give a trigonal
bipyramidal species which loses X with retention of stereochemistry.
Figure 26.4

In the trigonal plane of the 5-coordinate transition state or intermediate

(see Fig. 26.4), a -bonding interaction can occur between a metal d orbital (e.g.
dxy) and suitable orbitals (e.g. p atomic orbitals, or molecular orbitals of symmetry) of ligand L2 (the ligand trans to the leaving group), X (the leaving group)
and Y (the entering group). Note that ligands may not necessarily contribute to the
-bonding scheme, e.g. NH3.
Figure 26.5

Trans- and Cis-pla(n