A complete, up-to-date treatment of ligand field theory and its applications Ligand Field Theory and Its Applications presents an up-to-date account of ligand field theory, the model currently used to describe the metal-ligand interactions in transition metal compounds, and the way it is used to interpret the physical properties of the complexes. It examines the traditional electrostatic crystal field model, still widely used by physicists, as well as covalent approaches such as the angular overlap model, which interprets the metal ligand interactions using parameters relating directly to chemical behavior. Written by internationally recognized experts in the field, this book provides a comparison between ligand field theory and more sophisticated treatments as well as an account of the methods used to calculate the energy levels in compounds of the transition metals. It also covers physical properties such as stereochemistry, light absorption, and magnetic behavior. An emphasis on the interpretation of experimental results broadens the book's field of interest beyond transition metal chemistry into the many other areas where these metal ions play an important role. As clear and accessible as Brian Figgis's 1966 classic Introduction to Ligand Fields, this new book provides inorganic and bioinorganic chemists as well as physical chemists, chemical physicists, and spectroscopists with a much-needed overview of the many significant changes that have taken place in ligand field theory over the past 30 years.

"I have tried to give an introduction to that field of chemistry which deals wit the spectral and magnetic features of inorganic complexes. It has been my intention not to follow the theory in all its manifestations, but merely to describe the basic ideas and applications. This has been done with an eye constantly aimed at the practical and experimental features of the chemistry of the complex ions. The book is thus primarily intended for the inorganic chemist, but it is true that, in order to follow the exposition, a course in basic quantum mechanics is needed"--Preface.

This volume was originally published in 1973. The nature of the non-symmetry determined aspects of ligand-field theory receives inadequate treatment in most texts. This book is concerned with the nature of the ligand-field parameters used to describe the electronic properties of transition metal complexes having cubic and lower symmetries. These radial parameters constitute the non-symmetry-determined part of ligand-field theory. Symmetry-based properties are discussed here only to emphasize the separate roles of splitting factors and symmetry. The reader is assumed to be familiar with the usual approach to ligand-field theory and with elementary group theory.

Twenty years ago Tanabe and Sugano published the first ligand field energy diagrarns which are applicable to dN electronic configurations. These diagrams are limited in scope in that they can be used only for octahedral symmetry and for a limited number of terms. The present volume is an attempt to fill the gap by providing a reasonable nurober of complete and accurate ligand field energy diagrarns for dN configurations in the most commonly encountered symmetries. Despite their limited nature, the diagrarns of Tanabe and Sugano were exten sively used in the past in order to rationalize optical and luminescence spectra and to discuss various electronic properties of transition metal ions, their coordination compounds and solids. Moreover, Tanabe-Sugano diagrams have an established place in the theory of transition metal compounds and are included in most textbooks of inorganic and coordination chemistry. It is expected that the present diagrarns will be found useful for a similar purpose.

In this book, a synthesis of old and new notions straddling the disciplines of physics and chemistry is described.