How many unpaired electrons?

Question

How many unpaired electrons are present in the following complex ions?

[MnF6]⁴⁻ 
[Ru(en)3]²⁺

I understand that the first complex is high spin and the second is low spin, but I am still unsure about the number of unpaired electrons in each case. Could someone please help clarify this for me?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

oxidation state of manganese here is +2  that is 3d^5 .   flourides are poor ligands  and can not force the outer electrons in Manganese to be paired up.  Mn^2+ undergoes sp^3d^2 hybridisation to accommodate six ligand pairs.  Hence the complex contains five unpaired electrons in the central atom.    ethylene diamine (en) is a neutral ligand.  Oxidation state of Ruthenium is +2  it contains six valence electrons . en is a  strong  ligand and can  force the electrons to pair up.  So the central atom undergoes d^2sp^3   hybridisation and contains  no  unpaired electrons.

Prof. Willis Jerde MD · Answer

remember when they taught you about shells
1s
2s
2s2s
3s3p3d
something like that?
use that in order to draw the whole thing when you finish you will have some e- unpaired I believe
remember ? like only one arrow up instead of one up one down?
sorry I don’t know how to explain it any further but that is how I would do it

Anonymous

How many unpaired electrons?

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