Trigonal Prismatic Metal Complexes: A Not-So-Rare Coordination Geometry?

The solid state structures of two metal complexes of a hexaamine macrobicyclic ligand, in which the metal ion has an exact trigonal prismatic geometry, have been determined. Theoretical calculations showed this is the most stable geometry for d(0), d(10) and high spin d(5) metal complexes of the ligand with M-N bond distances >similar to 2.35 angstrom.