[Natalia]

Hey everyone,

I hope this is the correct forum to ask this in, but I was wondering, does the intensity of stirring play any role in the successful formation of metal complexes? I'm currently trying to reduce ruthenium trichloride to its +2 form in ethanol but, even though this has been done in literature, I can't seem to get it work. An article I was reading mentioned gentle stirring of the solution. Do you guys know if that would be worth trying?

Thanks a lot!

[kriggy]

Yes, sometimes coordination chemistry is more like an alchemy then science. Sometimes the time of stirring decides if you get crystals or powder or if your product forms at all. If the article mentioned gentle stirring, why didnt you stirr gently?

[Natalia]

Thanks for your reply. I actually saw the article after I'd tried the reaction a couple of times and it didn't work. So I haven't actually tried adapting the "slow stirring" method (my project involves other things and I've put this reaction on hold for now). I'll see how it goes and update this post.