An electron-counting rule to which an overwhelming majority of
stablediamagnetic transition metal complexes adhere. The number of nonbonded electrons at the metal
plus the number of electrons in the metal-ligand bonds should be 18. The 18 electron
rule in transition metal chemistry is a full analogue of the '
Lewis octet rule'.
Source:
PAC, 1994, 66, 1077
(Glossary of terms used in physical organic chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1994))
on page 1108
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by
A. D. McNaught and A.Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997).
XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic,
J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
