Question

Why are low spin tetrahedral complexes rarely observed?

Hint:

Tetrahedral geometry generally leads to high spin complexes due to weak field splitting, making low spin configurations uncommon.

Answer 1

Low spin tetrahedral complexes are rarely observed because the crystal field splitting energy (\(\Delta_t\)) in tetrahedral geometry is smaller compared to octahedral complexes. The low value of \(\Delta_t\) does not favour electron pairing, so the complexes tend to have high spin configurations, leading to a higher number of unpaired electrons. Hence, tetrahedral complexes typically show high spin rather than low spin.