Talk:Alkaline earth octacarbonyl complex

Really an 18-electron rule?

Does the 18-electron rule really any to AEM octacarbonyls? In the cubic geometry, one ungerade combination of CO sigma orbitals is decoupled from the metal orbitals, which therefore effectively share in only 16 valence electrons. Hence the open-shell structure which we don't see in 18-electron transition metal carbonyls where there are fewer CO ligands. Olthe3rd1 (talk) 00:54, 2 January 2022 (UTC)