Coordination Numbers
Count of covalent bonds for an atom in a molecule.
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Count of covalent bonds for an atom in a molecule.
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The concept of atomic coordination numbers (CNs) has been introduced by . CNs represent hybridisation conditions for atoms inside a molecular environment that agrees quite well with chemical intuition. Within the kallisto
program CNs are calculated in a pairwise sum that incorporates atomic covalent radii as . Furthermore, the differences in atomic electronegativities have been introduced for each pair as shown in its definition below.
The parameters used within the above definition are as follows:
Parameter
Value
k0
4.1
k1
19.1
k2
254.6
k3
254.6
Those parameters have been obtained by a least-squared fit to Wiberg bond orders of different di-atomic molecules. Here, Pauling electronegativities (EN
), the internuclear distance of pair AB (RAB
), and covalent atomic radii (RcovAB = RcovA + RcovB
) are used.
To calculate coordination numbers, I call the subcommand cns
Now we obtain a list of atomic coordination numbers, which is in agreement with chemical intuition.