A Chemical Criterion to Distinguish Between Metals, Nonmetals, and Metalloids Based on Coordinated Ligands

A new chemical criterion is proposed to differentiate between elements classified as metals, nonmetals, and metalloids based on the proportion of their compounds that incorporate one or more two-electron donor L ligands where L is defined according to the Equivalent Neutral Class formalism within the Covalent Bond Classification methodology. These proportions have been calculated through data mining of the recently published Chemdex database. Conclusions according to this criterion are compared to metalloid classifications based on element electronegativities and the ratio of the molar refractivity of gas phase atoms to the molar volume in the condensed state.