Denticity refers to the number of atom

Atom

The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...

s in a single ligand

Ligand

In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding between metal and ligand generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's electron pairs. The nature of metal-ligand bonding can range from...

 that bind to a central atom in a coordination complex. In many cases, only one atom in the ligand binds to the metal, so the denticity equals one, and the ligand is said to be monodentate (sometimes called unidentate). Ligands with more than one bonded atom are called polydentate or multidentate.

The word denticity is derived from dentis, the Latin word for tooth. The ligand is thought of as biting the metal at one or more linkage points. Denticity is distinguished from hapticity

Hapticity

The term hapticity is used to describe how a group of contiguous atoms of a ligand are coordinated to a central atom. Hapticity of a ligand is indicated by the Greek character 'eta', η. A superscripted number following the η denotes the number of contiguous atoms of the ligand that are bound to...

, in which electrons of a bond or conjugated series of bonds are linked to the central metal without the metal-ligand bond being localized to a single ligand atom.

Classes of denticity

Polydentate ligands are chelating agents and classified by their denticity. Some atoms cannot form the maximum possible number of bonds a ligand could make. In that case one or more binding site

Binding site

In biochemistry, a binding site is a region on a protein, DNA, or RNA to which specific other molecules and ions—in this context collectively called ligands—form a chemical bond...

s of the ligand are unused. Such sites can be used to form a bond with another chemical species

Chemical species

Chemical species are atoms, molecules, molecular fragments, ions, etc., being subjected to a chemical process or to a measurement. Generally, a chemical species can be defined as an ensemble of chemically identical molecular entities that can explore the same set of molecular energy levels on a...

.

• Bidentate (also called didentate) ligands bind with two atoms, an example being ethylenediamine.

• Tridentate ligands bind with three atoms, an example being terpyridine
  Terpyridine
  Terpyridine is a heterocyclic compound derived from pyridine. This colourless solid is used as a ligand in coordination chemistry.-Synthesis:...
  
  . Tridentate ligands usually bind via two kinds of connectivity, called "mer" and "fac." Cyclic tridentate ligands such as TACN
  1,4,7-Triazacyclononane
  1,4,7-Triazacyclononane, known as "TACN" which is pronounced "tack-en," is a cyclic organic compound with the formula C6H123. TACN is derived, formally speaking, from cyclononane by replacing three equidistant CH2 groups with NH groups. TACN is one of the oligomers derived from aziridine, C2H4NH...
  
   and 9-ane-S3
  1,4,7-Trithiacyclononane
  1,4,7-Trithiacyclononane, also called 9-ane-S3, is the heterocyclic compound with the formula 3. This cyclic thioether is most often encountered as a tridentate ligand in coordination chemistry....
  
   bind in a facial manner.
• Tetradentate ligands bind with four atoms, an example being triethylenetetramine (abbreviated trien). Tetradentate ligands bind via three connectivities depending on their topology and the geometry of the metal center. For octahedral metals, the linear tetradentate trien can bind via three geometries. Tripodal tetradentate ligands, e.g. tris(2-aminoethyl)amine
  Tris(2-aminoethyl)amine
  Trisamine is the organic compound with the formula N3. This colourless liquid is soluble in water and is highly basic, consisting of a tertiary amine center and three pendant primary amine groups...
  
  , are more constrained, and on octahedra leave two cis sites. Many naturally occurring macrocyclic
  Macrocycle
  A macrocycle is, as defined by IUPAC, "a cyclic macromolecule or a macromolecular cyclic portion of a molecule." In the chemical literature, organic chemists may consider any molecule containing a ring of nine or more atoms to be a macrocycle...
  
   ligands are tetradentative, an example being the porphyrin
  Porphyrin
  Porphyrins are a group of organic compounds, many naturally occurring. One of the best-known porphyrins is heme, the pigment in red blood cells; heme is a cofactor of the protein hemoglobin. Porphyrins are heterocyclic macrocycles composed of four modified pyrrole subunits interconnected at...
  
   in heme
  Heme
  A heme or haem is a prosthetic group that consists of an iron atom contained in the center of a large heterocyclic organic ring called a porphyrin. Not all porphyrins contain iron, but a substantial fraction of porphyrin-containing metalloproteins have heme as their prosthetic group; these are...
  
  .
• Pentadentate ligands bind with five atoms, an example being ethylenediaminetriacetic acid.
• Hexadentate ligands bind with six atoms, an example being EDTA
  EDTA
  Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, widely abbreviated as EDTA , is a polyamino carboxylic acid and a colourless, water-soluble solid. Its conjugate base is named ethylenediaminetetraacetate. It is widely used to dissolve limescale. Its usefulness arises because of its role as a hexadentate ligand...
  
   (although it can bind in a tetradentate manner).
• Ligands of denticity greater than 6 are well known. The ligands 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetate (DOTA) and diethylene triamine pentaacetate (DTPA) are octadentate. They are particularly useful for binding lanthanide ions, which typically have coordination numbers greater than 6.

Stability constants

In general, the stability of a metal complex correlates with the denticity of the ligands. The stability of a complex is represented quantitatively in the form of Stability constants

Stability constants of complexes

A stability constant is an equilibrium constant for the formation of a complex in solution. It is a measure of the strength of the interaction between the reagents that come together to form the complex...

. Hexadentate ligands tend to bind metal ions more strongly than ligands of lower denticity.

External links

• EDTA chelation lecture notes. 2.4MB PDF - Slide 3 on denticity