is the chemical compound with the formula [Co(NH3 . This
coordination compound is considered an archetypal "Werner
complex", named after the pioneer of coordination chemistry,
Alfred Werner Alfred Werner was a Swiss chemist who was a
student at ETH Zurich and a professor at the University of
Zurich. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1913 for
proposing the octahedral configuration of transition metal
complexes. Werner developed the basis for modern coordination
chemistry... . This salt consists of [Co(NH3 trications with
three Cl− anions. The term "ammine" refers to ammonia in its
metal complexes, and the prefix hex (Greek: six) indicates that
there are six ammonias per cation. Originally this compound was
described as a "luteo" (Latin: yellow) complex, but this name
has been discarded as modern chemistry considers color less
important than molecular structure. Other similar complexes also
had color names, such as purpureo (Latin: purple) for a
pentammine complex, and praseo (Greek: green) and violeo (Lat