The CFT assumes ligands as point charges, leading to the expectation that anionic ligands would have the highest splitting effect. However, this contradicts the observed positioning of anionic ligands at the low end of the spectrochemical series.

The color of transition metal complexes is complementary to the absorbed light; for example, if green light is absorbed, the complex appears red. The wide range of colors arises from the removal of specific wavelengths from white light as it ...

The ‘g’ subscript is used for complexes with a center of symmetry, which octahedral and square planar complexes possess. Tetrahedral complexes lack symmetry, so the ‘g’ subscript is not used in their energy level designations.

The orbital splitting energies (∆ₜ) in tetrahedral coordination entities are not large enough to force electron pairing, resulting in low spin configurations. The relationship is given by ∆ₜ = (4/9) ∆₀ for the same metal, ligands, and metal-ligand distances.

The distribution of the fourth electron in d⁴ ions depends on the relative magnitudes of crystal field splitting (∆₀) and pairing energy (P). The two possible patterns are either pairing with an existing electron in the t₂g level or avoiding ...