In coordination chemistry, the oxidation number of a central atom in a coordination compound is the charge that it would have if all the ligands were removed along with the electron pairs that were shared with the central atom.
The oxidation number is used in the nomenclature of inorganic compounds. It is represented by a Roman numeral. The oxidation number is placed either as a right superscript to the element symbol, for example FeIII, or in parentheses after the name of the element, iron(III): in the latter case, there is no space between the element name and the oxidation number.
Read more about Oxidation Number: Oxidation Number Versus Oxidation State, Spectroscopic Oxidation States
Famous quotes containing the word number:
“This nightmare occupied some ten pages of manuscript and wound off with a sermon so destructive of all hope to non-Presbyterians that it took the first prize. This composition was considered to be the very finest effort of the evening.... It may be remarked, in passing, that the number of compositions in which the word “beauteous” was over-fondled, and human experience referred to as “life’s page,” was up to the usual average.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)