Draw a crystal field energy-level diagram for a square planar complex, and explain why square planar geometry is especially common for d⁸ complexes.

Video transcript

All right. Hi, everyone. So this question is asking us which the following is most likely to adopt a square planar geometry. Justify your answer option A says D 10 complex. Option B says D six complex option C says D eight complex and option D says D five complex. So first, if I go ahead and scroll down here, let's recall the crystal field splitting energy diagram for a square planar complex because the first thing I want to point out here is that the topmost orbital, right, the DX squared subtracted by Y squared orbital has a relatively higher energy than the remaining four D orbitals. Now, the reason that's relevant right is because square planar geometry is generally considered to be or generally favors lower spin complexes. So what that means right is that square planar geometry favors complexes in which the four lower energy orbitals are filled completely. So square planar geometry favors complexes in which the four lower energy D orbitals are filled, leaving the highest energy orbital empty. So if we consider the fact that we have four orbitals each accommodating a maximum of two electrons, right, that means that eight electrons are required to fill the lower energy D orbitals. This means that ad eight complex is most likely to adopt square planar geometry because the eight electrons can completely fill the four lower energy D orbitals leaving the highest energy orbital completely vacant. Meaning our answer is going to be option c in the multiple choice. And with that being said, thank you so very much for watching and I hope you found this helpful.