Crystal Field Theory

Chemistry

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Crystal field theory

The crystal field theory (CFT) is an electrostatic model which considers the metal-ligand bond to be ionic arising purely from electrostatic interactions between the metal ion and the ligand. Ligands are treated as point charges in case of anions or dipoles in case of neutral molecules.

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Features of CFT

Crystal field theory (CFT) describes the breaking of orbital degeneracy in transition metal complexes due to the presence of ligands. CFT qualitatively describes the strength of the metal-ligand bonds. Based on the strength of the metal-ligand bonds, the energy of the system is altered. This may lead to a change in magnetic properties as well as color. 

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Crystal field for octahedral complexes

In an octahedral complex, there are six ligands attached to the central transition metal. The d-orbital splits into two different levels. The bottom three energy levels are named (collectively referred to as ). The two upper energy levels are named (collectively referred to as ). The reason they split is because of the electrostatic interactions between the electrons of the ligand and the lobes of the d-orbital. In an octahedral, the electrons are attracted to the axes. Any orbital that has a lobe on the axes moves to a higher energy level. This means that in an octahedral, the energy levels of are higher while is lower (0.4).

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Crystal field stabilisation energy

The Crystal Field Stabilization Energy is defined as the energy of the electronic configuration in the ligand field minus the energy of the electronic configuration in the isotropic field.
CFSE=

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Spectrochemical series

A spectrochemical series is a list of ligands ordered on ligand strength and a list of metal ions based on oxidation number, group and its identity.

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Weak field ligands

Ligands that produce a small are called weak-field ligands and lie at the left end of the spectrochemical series. Weak field ligands cannot make pairing of electrons to the metal atoms. They are donor ligands, e.g., halide ions are weak field ligands.

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Strong field ligands

Strong field ligands have large . They are -acceptor ligands. They have the tendency of pairing of electrons of the metal ions.

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Properties of octahedral

  • High spin state and low spin state
  • Magnetism
  • Colour

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High spin and low spin states on the basis of CFT

As the electrons first enter the lower energy three orbitals with parallel spin, hence for complexes with ions, the orbital occupancy is certain. For etc. ions, three electrons first enter orbitals with parallel spin but the remaining may pair up in the orbital or may enter orbital, giving rise to low-spin complex in the former case or high-spin complex in the later case.

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Crystal field theory for tetrahedral complexes

In a tetrahedral complex, there are four ligands attached to the central metal. The d orbitals also split into two different energy levels. The top three consist of the orbitals. The bottom two consist of the and orbitals. The reason for this is due to poor orbital overlap between the metal and the ligand orbitals. The orbitals are directed on the axes, while the ligands are not.
is typically smaller than the spin pairing energy, so tetrahedral complexes are usually high spin.

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Factors affecting orbital splitting energy

  • Oxidation state of the metal
  • Nature of the metal
  • Geometry of the coordination entity
  • Nature of the ligand

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Limitation of crystal field theory

  • As ligands are regarded as point charges, the anionic ligands should exert greater splitting effect.
  • It treats the metal-ligand bond as purely ionic and does not take into the account the covalent character of the bond.

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Weak field ligands

The ligand which on splitting goes in low energy field is called as weak field ligand.
Examples : etc.

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Advantages of crystal field theory over valence bond theory

CFT predicts a gradual change in magnetic properties of complexes rather than the abrupt change predicted by VBT. According to VBT, the bond between the metal and the ligand is covalent,,while according to CFT it is purely ionic. The bond is now considered to have both ionic and covalent charachter. Unlike valence bond theory.
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