Conspectus
Alkaline earth elements beryllium, magnesium,
calcium, strontium,
and barium with an ns2 valence-shell configuration
are usually classified as main-group elements that belong to the s-block
atoms. For a long time, the elements were considered to be rather
chemically uninteresting atomic species due to preconceived ideas
about bonding, structure, and reactivity. They typically use the two ns valence electrons in forming ionic salt compounds with
the metal in a formal oxidation state of +2. For the heavier alkaline
earth atoms, calcium, strontium, and barium, their (n – 1)d atomic orbitals (AOs) are empty but lie close in energy
to the valence np orbitals. Earlier theoretical investigations
have already suggested that these elements can employ the (n – 1)d AOs to some extent to form
polar bonds in divalent species in which the alkaline earth metal
centers are sufficiently positively charged. The d orbital involvement
increases from Ca to Sr and markedly in Ba. Thus, barium has been
termed an honorary transition metal.
Recently, molecular complexes
of Ca, Sr, and Ba were prepared in
the gas phase and in a low-temperature solid neon matrix and were
detected by infrared spectroscopy. An analysis of the electronic structures
of [Ba(CO)]+, [Ba(CO)]−, saturated coordinated
octacarbonyls [M(CO)8] and [M(CO)8]+, isoelectronic dinitrogen complexes [M(N2)8] and [M(N2)8]+, and the tribenzene
complexes [M(Bz)3] (M = Ca, Sr, Ba) revealed that the metal–ligand
bonding can be straightforwardly discussed using the traditional Dewar–Chatt–Duncanson
(DCD) model as in classical transition-metal complexes. The metal–ligand
bonds can be explained with metal → ligand π back donation
from occupied metal (n – 1)d AOs to vacant
antibonding π molecular orbitals of the ligands with concomitant
σ donation from occupied MOs of the ligands to vacant metal
d orbitals of the alkaline earth atoms. In addition, heteronuclear
Ca–Fe carbonyl cation complexes were also produced in the gas
phase. Bonding analysis of the coordination saturated [CaFe(CO)10]+ complex implies that it can be described by
the bonding interactions between a [Ca(CO)6]2+ fragment and an [Fe(CO)4]− anion fragment
in forming a Fe → Ca d–d dative bond. The nature of
metal–ligand and metal–metal bonding was quantitatively
elucidated by the energy decomposition analysis in conjunction with
the natural orbitals for the chemical valence (EDA-NOCV) method, which
indicate that the (n – 1)d AOs of the alkaline
earth metals are the dominant orbitals participating in the covalent
interactions, just as typical transition metals. The results indicate
that the heavier alkaline earth elements have a much richer covalent
chemistry than previously thought. These findings, along with earlier
studies, suggest that the heavier alkaline earth atoms Ca, Sr, and
Ba should be classified as transition metals rather than main group
atoms in the periodic table of the elements. This interesting structural
chemistry, together with some recently reported examples of spectacular
reacti...