Crystal Field Theory

CFT was given by Hans Bethe in 1929 and was further developed by Van Vlech in 1932. It
explained the bonding in complex compounds.
1. Postulates of CFT:
1. The bonding between metal and ligand is purely electrostatic between metal ion and donor
atom.
2. The central Metal cation is surrounded by ligand which contains one or more lone pair of
electrons.
3. The ionic ligand (F-, Cl- etc.) is regarded as point of negative charges and neutral
molecules (H2O, NH3 etc.) as point dipoles. If the ligand is negatively charged: ion-ion
interaction. If the ligand is neutral: ion-dipole interaction.
4. When a hypothetical spherical field of ligand approaches the metal ion, d-orbitals still
remain degenerate, but their energy level is raised a bit due to repulsion between the orbitals
of metal & ligand. This energy level is called Barycenter. But in the transition metal
complexes, the geometry about the metal ions are octahedral, tetrahedral or square planar
etc., the field provided by the ligands is not at all spherically symmetrical therefore d-orbitals
are unequally affected by the ligands and degeneracy of d-orbitals in metal removed and split
into different energy levels (eg, t2g or e, t2).
5. This splitting is affected by the following factors:
•    The nature of the ligands. The stronger the ligand, the greater is the splitting.
•    Oxidation state of the central metal ion. A higher oxidation state leads to larger
splitting. 
•    Size of d orbitals (i.e., transition series).
•    Geometry of the complex.
6. The magnetic properties depend upon the splitting of d- orbitals of the central cation in
different crystal.
7. The color of complexes are explained in terms of electronic transitions between the various
d- orbitals of different energies.
8. It also explains why certain geometries are more favored than others by certain metals in
terms of crystal field stabilization energies.