The coordination chemistry of iron covers a wide field, as shown by a survey covering the crystallographic and structural data of almost one thousand and three hundred coordination complexes. About 6.7% of these complexes exist as isomers and are summarized in this review. Included are distortion (96.6%) and cis - trans (3.4%) isomers. These are discussed in terms of the coordination about the iron atom, bond length and interbond angles. Distortion isomers, differing only by degree of distortion in Fe-L, Fe-L-Fe and L-Fe-L parameters, are the most common. Iron is found in the oxidation states zero, +2 and +3 of which +3 is most common. The stereochemistry around iron centers are tetrahedral, five - coordinated (mostly trigonal - bipyramid) and six - coordinated. The most common ligands have O and N donor sites.
The coordination chemistry of mercury is an extremelybroad field, as shown by a survey covering the crystallographic and structural data of over 550 examples. About 12% of those complexes exist as isomers and are summarised and classified in this review. Included are distortion (73%), polymerisation (20.6%), coordination number (3.2%) and ligand (3.2%) isomerism. These are discussed in terms of the coordination around the mercury atoms, and correlations are drawn between donor atoms, bond distances and bond angles. Distortion isomers, differing only by the degree of distortion in the Hg - L and L - Hg - L angles, are the most common. These isomers are discussed and compared with those found in the chemistry of zinc and cadmium. [...]