Inorganic · Electronic Spectra
Electronic Spectra of Complexes
Exam-focused revision notes on Electronic Spectra of Complexes for CSIR-NET Chemical Sciences, GATE Chemistry and IIT-JAM — the core concepts, the formulas worth memorising, the traps that cost marks, and a quick-recall table.
The core idea
The colour of transition-metal complexes comes from electronic transitions. Two families matter: d–d transitions (weak, give pale colours) and charge-transfer bands (intense, give deep colours).
What this note covers
- 1The core idea
- 2d–d transitions
- 3Selection rules
- 4Free-ion terms & ground term
- 5Orgel diagrams
- 6Tanabe–Sugano diagrams
- 7Charge-transfer (CT) bands
- 8Nephelauxetic effect
- 9Jahn–Teller distortion (brief)
- 10Common traps students miss
- 1130-second recall table
Read the full note
The remaining 10 sections — including the worked examples, the common-traps list and the quick-recall table — are part of ChemVidya Full Access, along with 6,000+ practice questions.
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