A low spin complex of -cation in an octahedral field will have the following energy: ( = Crystal field splitting energy in an octahedral field, = Electron pairing energy)
In an octahedral crystal field, the orbitals split into lower energy and higher energy orbitals. The energy of each electron in the orbital is (or ) with respect to the barycentre. For a low spin complex, the strong field ligand forces all 6 electrons to pair up and occupy the lower energy orbitals (configuration: ).
The Crystal Field Splitting Energy (CFSE) is calculated as: .
Since all 6 electrons are completely paired in the 3 available orbitals, there are 3 electron pairs. Thus, the total pairing energy is . Therefore, the total energy of the complex is .
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