Knowledge Bank

“The absorption and reflection spectra of molybdenum and tungsten octacyanides have been measured and the results are interpreted by the electrostatic crystal field theory. The splitting of the energy levels of a $d2$ configuration in a field of eight ligands both arranged at the corners of an Archimedean antiprism and of a dodecahedron with triangular faces, respectively, are discussed. In both cases a singlet ground state results and good agreement between calculated and observed spectra is found. Comparison of the results show how far conclusions as to the actual molecular symmetry can be drawn in this case from a correspondence of theory and experiment.”