Homoleptic octahedral complexes of a metal ion M³⁺ with three monodentate ligands L₁, L₂ and L₃ absorb wavelengths in the region of green, blue and red respectively. The increasing order of the ligand

Question

Homoleptic octahedral complexes of a metal ion M³⁺ with three monodentate ligands L₁, L₂ and L₃ absorb wavelengths in the region of green, blue and red respectively. The increasing order of the ligand strength is:

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Strategy:
 Connect absorbed color wavelength to transition energy, and thus to ligand field strength.

Step 1: Relate color to energy
The wavelength of absorbed light is inversely proportional to energy ().
Wavelengths: Red (longest)  Green (intermediate)  Blue (shortest).
Energies (): Blue (highest)  Green (intermediate)  Red (lowest).

Step 2: Map to ligands
-  absorbs Red  lowest energy  weakest field.
-  absorbs Green  intermediate  intermediate field.
-  absorbs Blue  highest energy  strong

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