Question
Question: What is the structure of pentavalent coordination compounds using crystal field theory specifically,...
What is the structure of pentavalent coordination compounds using crystal field theory specifically, Fe(CO)5 .
Solution
The Crystal Field Theory is a paradigm for the bonding relationship between transition metals and ligands. Hans Bethe and VanVleck introduced the crystal field theory. The attraction between the metal cation’s positive charge and the negative charge of the ligand's non-bonding electrons is explained by the Crystal Field Theory.
Complete answer:
Crystal field theory discusses the destruction of degeneracies of electron orbital states, generally d or f orbitals, caused by a static electric field created by a surrounding charge distribution.
The arrangements of pentavalent coordination compounds are trigonal bipyramidal. The CO group is a neutrally charged, heavy field ligand and it forces electron pairing. This produces a dsp3 hybrid orbital by the hybridisation of one pair of d electrons from the 3d orbital, one pair of s electrons from the 4s orbital, and three pairs of p electrons from the 4p orbital. This explains the molecule's trigonal bipyramidal structure.
Fe(CO)5 has a trigonal bipyramidal configuration with the Fe atom being enclosed by five CO ligands, three of which are equatorial and two of which are axially bound. Each of the Fe−C−O linkages are linear. The Berry mechanism results in a comparatively low rate of interchange between the axial CO and equatorial groups in Fe(CO)5 .
Note:
It must be noted that the Crystal Field theory excludes the existence of p bonding. Which is a significant disadvantage since it is present in many complexes. The orbits of the ligands have little significance in the theory. As a result, it cannot justify any properties of ligand orbitals or their interactions with metal orbitals.