QJEEM23Ch7e87: JEE Main 2023 Chemistry - Class 12 JEEM23Ch7e87 Solution: Number of ambidentate ligands in a representative metal complex …

Ambidentate ligands are ligands that can bond to a metal atom through two different atoms. They can attach through one site or the other, but not both at the same time.

In the given complex $[\mathrm{M}(\mathrm{en})(\mathrm{SCN})_{4}]$ :

• $\mathrm{en}$ , or ethylenediamine, is a bidentate ligand, meaning it can form two bonds with the metal ion, but it is not ambidentate because it always binds through the same two nitrogen atoms.

• $\mathrm{SCN}^{-}$ , on the other hand, is an example of an ambidentate ligand. It can bind to the metal either through the sulfur atom ( $\mathrm{S}$ ) or the nitrogen atom ( $\mathrm{N}$ ).

Since there are four $\mathrm{SCN}^{-}$ ligands in the given complex, the number of ambidentate ligands is 4.