Color and Electronic Transitions in Coordination Compounds
The color of coordination compounds arises from d-d electronic transitions, which depend on the metal, its oxidation state, and the ligand field.
Why this shows up in the exam
You may be asked to explain or predict the color of complexes based on their electronic structure.
How NEET tests this
Practise it
These are real questions from past NEET papers that test this exact idea.
Out of TiF₆²⁻, CoF₆³⁻, Cu₂Cl₂ and NiCl₄²⁻ (Z of Ti = 22, Co = 27, Cu = 29, Ni = 28) the colourless species are
Push further
More challenging5 harder questions built from the past papers above — a step up in difficulty, with distractors designed so you can't get there by elimination. Written and checked by our reviewers, not from a real paper.
Which of the following complex ions is expected to be colored?
More from Coordination Compounds
Isomerism in Coordination Compounds
Coordination compounds exhibit various types of isomerism, including structural (ionization, linkage, coordination, solvate) and stereoisomerism (geometrical, optical, fac-mer), depending on their geometry and ligand arrangement.
Crystal Field Theory and Spectrochemical Series
Crystal field theory explains the splitting of d-orbitals in different ligand fields, the spectrochemical series ranks ligands by field strength, and these concepts determine electronic configuration, color, and magnetism.
Magnetic Properties of Coordination Compounds
The magnetic behavior (paramagnetic or diamagnetic) of coordination compounds depends on the number of unpaired electrons, which is influenced by ligand field strength and geometry.
Structure and Bonding in Metal Carbonyls
Metal carbonyls are organometallic complexes with unique bonding involving σ-donation and π-back bonding, affecting their geometry, bond lengths, and properties.
Applications of Coordination Compounds
Coordination compounds have important applications in medicine, industry, and analytical chemistry, such as in cisplatin (anticancer), electroplating, photography, and vitamin B₁₂.
Types of Ligands and Denticity
Ligands are classified by the number of donor atoms (denticity) and their ability to bind in different ways, including monodentate, bidentate, polydentate, ambidentate, homoleptic, and heteroleptic ligands.