[Cooper]

Hi,

Is pi back-bonding more inorganic chemistry than organic? Sorry if it is, a mod can move my post if necessary.

So an alkene comes and is a pi donor to a transition metal complex. Then, in turn, the TM donates electrons from its d orbitals to a vacant pi* orbital. But I am a little confused as to what the bond looks like? I thought bonds had to be from atom to atom but I saw this picture (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Zeise%27sSalt.png). It looks like a sigma bond (so why is an alkene called a "pi donor"? I get that they are pi electrons from the double bond.) connected to a pi bond.

Is pi back-bonding an actual bond or is it more just a stabilizing effect like hyperconjugation?

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks!

PS I'm new to this whole transition metal thing, so please be light on the hardcore terminology.

[Cooper]

EDIT: I figured out that's more of a stabilizing effect than a bond.