Four- and Five-Coordinate Oxovanadium(V) Alkoxides: Do Steric Effects or Electronic Properties Dictate the Geometry?

Sterically hindered ligands generally form metal complexes with lower coordination numbers than less hindered ligands. In contrast to dogma, the solid state vanadium(V) complexes with ethylene glycol and pinacol contain four- and five-coordinate vanadium atoms, respectively. Ab initio and electrostatic potential distribution calculations were conducted on both experimental and optimized geometries of the four- and five-coordinate oxovanadium chloroalkoxides.