Isomers in the Chemistry of Germanium Coordination Compounds

The coordination chemistry of germanium covers quite bulk fields, as shown by a survey covering the crystallographic and structural data of over two hundred examples. About ten percent of those complexes exist as distortion isomers and are summarised. These are discussed in terms of the coordination around the germanium(I), germanium(II) and germanium(IV) atoms, and correlations are drawn between donor atoms, bond distances and interbond angles. Distortion isomers differing only by degree of distortion in Ge – L and L – Ge – L angles by far prevail. There is an example, which contains within one crystal distortion and coordination isomers, which is rarity.