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Concept
Spin states (d electrons)
Summary
Spin states when describing transition metal coordination complexes refers to the potential spin configurations of the central metal's d electrons. For several oxidation states, metals can adopt high-spin and low-spin configurations. The ambiguity only applies to first row metals, because second- and third-row metals are invariably low-spin. These configurations can be understood through the two major models used to describe coordination complexes; crystal field theory and ligand field theory (a more advanced version based on molecular orbital theory).
Magnetochemistry
The Δ splitting of the d orbitals plays an important role in the electron spin state of a coordination complex. Three factors affect Δ: the period (row in periodic table) of the metal ion, the charge of the metal ion, and the field strength of the complex's ligands as described by the spectrochemical series. Only octahedral complexes of first row transition metals adopt high-spin states.
In order for low spin splitting to occur, the energy cost of placing an electron into an already singly occupied orbital must be less than the cost of placing the additional electron into an eg orbital at an energy cost of Δ. If the energy required to pair two electrons is greater than the energy cost of placing an electron in an eg, Δ, high spin splitting occurs.
If the separation between the orbitals is large, then the lower energy orbitals are completely filled before population of the higher orbitals according to the Aufbau principle. Complexes such as this are called "low-spin" since filling an orbital matches electrons and reduces the total electron spin. If the separation between the orbitals is small enough then it is easier to put electrons into the higher energy orbitals than it is to put two into the same low-energy orbital, because of the repulsion resulting from matching two electrons in the same orbital. So, one electron is put into each of the five d orbitals before any pairing occurs in accord with Hund's rule resulting in what is known as a "high-spin" complex.
Official source
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