The Student Room Group

Forming tetrahedral Cr(III)

Why would one be unlikely in succeeding if you tried to make a tetrahedral complex from Cr(III)?

Is this because tetrahedral complexes are favored over octehedral for metal ions in lower oxidation states? And seeing as this is Cr3+ it would favor octehedral?

Thanks
Reply 1
Original post by DonnieBrasco
Why would one be unlikely in succeeding if you tried to make a tetrahedral complex from Cr(III)?

Is this because tetrahedral complexes are favored over octehedral for metal ions in lower oxidation states? And seeing as this is Cr3+ it would favor octehedral?

Thanks


Cr is d6, so Cr(III) has 3 d electrons. Try fitting those into a tetrahedral and then an octahedral CFSE diagram, and see what the differences are.
Reply 2
Original post by illusionz
Cr is d6, so Cr(III) has 3 d electrons. Try fitting those into a tetrahedral and then an octahedral CFSE diagram, and see what the differences are.


OK so the octehedral has a larger CFSE, is that it?
Original post by DonnieBrasco
OK so the octehedral has a larger CFSE, is that it?


the ligand field splitting for tetrahedral is approximately 4/9 of the value for octahedral. This further contributes to the LFSE stabilisation of octahedral.

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