the range of thermodynamic discrimination, covers four orders of magnitude. This is in contrast with the reactivity patterns for the reactions of HONO where the rate constants for the formation of XNO are practically independent of the nature of X-. In the case of HNOz i t was concluded that no N-X bond making obtains in the transition state. Therefore, in the case of C O ( N H~)~O N O~+ , there must be some N-X bond making in the transition state. A "quantitative" measure of the amount of bond breaking and bond making that obtains in the transition state can be estimated from the log k vs. log Q plot presented in Figure 1. Assuming a linear free energy relationship, we obtain a slope of -0.5, a value which suggests approximately "equal" contributions of bond making and bond breaking in the transition state for the reaction.Finally, i t is noteworthy that the catalysis of aquation of Co(NH3)50N02+ by halides and thiocyanate ions, when combined with microscopic reversibility considerations, indicates that, provided the equilibrium is favorable, 0-nitrosation on co(NH3)60H2+ would be accomplished by XNO. Thus, the range of reagents involved in nitrosation in inorganic chemistry has been extended from the early studies with Nd&336 to the more recent studies implicating NO+ 6 -Q and to the present studies which show the importance of reaction paths involving nitrosyl halides and nitrosyl thiocyanate. We are planning to extend the studies of the effects of halides and pseudohalides to other metal complexes containing coordinated nitrite and coordinated nitrosyl.The single-crystal polarized electronic spectrum of the five-coordinate complex bromotetrakis(2-methylimidazole)nickel(II ) bromide is reported. A general method for the analysis of the excited-state energies observed in the "d-d" electronic spectra of nickel halide complexes with D4h or C4, , symmetry is described and used to derive the angular overlap u-and *-bonding parameters of the ligands in several nickel halide complexes of known crystal structure.
IntroductionThere has been considerable interest recently both in the electronic spectra of five-coordinate nickel complexesl and in the interpretatioa of the energy levels of tetragonally distorted compounds using ligand-field bonding parameters.2 The single-crystal spectrum of bromotetrakis(2-methylimidazole)nickel(II) bromide, [Ni(2-meim)qBr]Br, is therefore interesting both because i t is a representative example of the spectrum of a square-pyramidal nickel complex and because it allows the ligand u-and .rr-bonding parameters of a fivecoordinate complex to be compared with those of similar six-coordinate compounds.