Chemistry · Chapter 19

Split the d Orbitals, Then Read the Color

Pick a metal ion and a ligand. The gap Δ grows as you climb the spectrochemical series, the filling can flip from high spin to low spin, and the band that gets swallowed slides across the spectrum. The color you see is whatever is left over.

The splitting diagram the levels move with Δ

Split d orbital levels filled with electrons

White light in, colored light out the notch is what gets absorbed

The absorbed band cut out of white light, and the colour that is left WHITE LIGHT GOING IN WHAT COMES BACK OUT

Real d-d bands are broad, not sharp lines. A wider band swallows more of the spectrum, so the color you see shifts.

Metal ion the ion fixes the d count

Ligand weak field first

Shape
Filling

Live numbers

0kJ/mol of splitting high spin

What you are looking at

splitting energy