Transition elements

The Transition Metals are the elements found between the Group IIA Elements and the Group IIB Elements in the periodic table. The GroupIIb are sometimes considered transition elements. The transition elements are also known as the d-block elements, because while the outermost level contains at most two electrons, their ne t to outermost main levels have incompletel! filled d sub-orbitals, which are filled-up pro"ressivel! on "oin" across the periodic table from #to $# electrons. The fillin" of the d sub-orbitals of the transition elements across a row of the periodic table is not alwa!s re"ular.

The transition elements are those elements having a partially filled d or f subshell in any common oxidation state. The term "transition elements" most commonly refers to the d-block transition elements. There are a number of properties shared by the transition elements that are not found in other elements, which results from the partially filled d shell. These include

the formation of compounds whose colour is due to d d electronic transitions the formation of compounds in many oxidation states, due to the relatively low reactivity of unpaired d electrons.[ !" the formation of many paramagnetic compounds due to the presence of unpaired d electrons. # few compounds of main group elements are also paramagnetic $e.g. nitric oxide,oxygen%

Oxidation states

&ultiple 'xidation (tates

#s stated above, most transition metals have multiple oxidation states, since it is relatively easy to lose electron$s% for transition metals compared to the alkali metals and alkaline earth metals. #lkali metals have one s-orbital and therefore their oxidation state is ) and alkaline earth metals have two s-orbital, resulting with an oxidation state of )!. This is not the case for transition metals since transition metals have * d-orbitals. The d-orbital has a variety of oxidation states. The s-orbital also contributes to determining the oxidation states.

+d