aquopentamminecobaltic
|a-quo-pen-tam-mi-ne-co-bal-tic|
🇺🇸
/əˌkwoʊ.pɛnˈtæm.iːn kəˈbɔːl.tɪk/
🇬🇧
/əˌkwəʊ.pɛnˈtæm.iːn kəˈbɒl.tɪk/
Co(III) complex with 1 H2O and 5 NH3 ligands
Etymology
'aquopentamminecobaltic' originates from a compound of classical and chemical roots: specifically 'aqua' (Latin), where 'aqua' meant 'water'; 'penta' (Greek), where 'penta' meant 'five'; 'ammine' (modern chemical/Neo-Latin formation from 'ammonia'), where 'ammonia' referred to the substance ammonia; and 'cobalt' (German 'kobalt' from Old German 'kobold'), where 'kobold' meant 'goblin'.
'aquopentamminecobaltic' changed from earlier systematic chemical namings such as 'aquo-pentaamminecobalt(III)' and other IUPAC-style concatenations: the modern adjective fuses the combining forms 'aquo-' + 'pentammine' + 'cobaltic' to describe the specific Co(III) species.
Initially the components referred separately to 'water', 'five', 'ammine (derived from ammonia)' and 'cobalt'; over time the concatenated form evolved into a single technical adjective meaning 'of or relating to the specific Co(III) complex [Co(H2O)(NH3)5]3+'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
relating to or denoting a cobaltic (Co(III)) coordination complex that contains one aqua (water) ligand and five ammine (NH3) ligands — i.e. the species represented as [Co(H2O)(NH3)5]3+.
The aquopentamminecobaltic complex [Co(H2O)(NH3)5]3+ has been characterized by spectroscopy.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/09/30 11:30