Competitive coordination: ambident ligands in the modern chemistry of metal complexes

Data on the problem of competitive coordination, obtained mainly during the last 10 years, are surveyed and treated systematically. The competitive binding of metals in complexes of bi- and poly-dentate ligand systems — simple diatomic and triatomic compounds (N₂, O₂, CO, CO₂, CS₂, etc.), ambident anions (CN^-, NCX^-, NO₂^-, SO₃^2-, etc.), and neutral aliphatic, aromatic, and heterocyclic compounds, including chelating organic ligands — is examined. Attention is specially concentrated on nontraditional ways in which typical ligand systems are coordinated and on regioselective synthesis as a method for the specific synthesis of metal complexes with a specified location of the coordinate bond. The bibliography includes 575 references.