EDTA
Based on "YMCA" by The Village People
Dedicated to all those at the 2002 LMH Chemists Dinner who were good-humoured/brave/inebriated enough to sing this, with especial
thanks to those who actually got it to scan because, let's face it, it doesn't
I
Ligands, there’s no need to feel down,
I said ligands, when you’re floating around,
You don’t have to stay there, free and unbound –
There’s no need to be uncomplexed!
Ligands, you’ve got electron pairs,
They’re not bonded - and they’re just sitting there;
A cation - if you’re willing to share –
Could accept your spare electrons!
Chorus I
You’ve got to complex like EDTA,
You’ve got to complex like EDTA;
It’s got everything to be hexadentate!
It’s got six lone pairs to donate!
You’ve got to complex like EDTA,
You’ve got to complex like EDTA!
It’s ethylene-dia-mine-tetra-acet-ate!
It’s a ligand that can chelate!
II
Ligands you might bond to class b
Metals - if you’re polarised easily
(As are sulphur, phosphorus, iodine)
And form more covalent compounds;
Ligands, if you’re hard (like fluorine)
You’re electronegative, so you’ll be
Bound to harder metals like Al (III)
With elec-tro-stat-ic bonding!
Chorus II
You’ve got to complex like EDTA,
You’ve got to complex like EDTA;
It replaces all six H2Os separately,
So the entropy must increase!
You’ve got to complex like EDTA,
You’ve got to complex like EDTA;
It’s the chelate effect! It’s a favoured process!
It’s a positive delta S!
III
Ligands can you act as a pi
Donor? They can even stabilise high
Oxidation states – they’re weak field and high
Spin – the delta value’s smaller;
But if the pi* are empty
They’re acceptors lowering t2g
And increasing the gap in energy:
The ligand field splitting’s larger!
Repeat Choruses I and II until bored
(c) Aimee Hartnell, February 2002