Limitations of Crystal Field Theory (CFT)

Important facts for NEET/JEE:

1. CFT successfully explains the structure, colour and magnetic properties of coordination compounds to a large extent.

2. CFT assumes that ligands behave as point charges or point dipoles.

3. According to this assumption, anionic ligands should produce greater crystal field splitting. However, experimentally, anionic ligands generally occur at the lower end of the spectrochemical series.

4. CFT does not explain the covalent character of bonding between the central metal ion and ligands.

5. These limitations are addressed by:

  • Ligand Field Theory (LFT)
  • Molecular Orbital Theory (MOT)

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