<P> When a salt of a weak acid or of a weak base is dissolved in water, water can partially hydrolyze the salt, producing the corresponding base or acid, which gives aqueous solutions of soap and baking soda their basic pH: </P> <Dl> <Dd> Na CO + H O ⇌ NaOH + NaHCO </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> Na CO + H O ⇌ NaOH + NaHCO </Dd> <P> Water's Lewis base character makes it a common ligand in transition metal complexes, examples of which include metal aquo complexes such as Fe (H O) to perrhenic acid, which contains two water molecules coordinated to a rhenium center . In solid hydrates, water can be either a ligand or simply lodged in the framework, or both . Thus, FeSO 7H O consists of (Fe (H O)) centers and one "lattice water". Water is typically a monodentate ligand, i.e., it forms only one bond with the central atom . </P>

What properties make water such a special molecule