The electronic structures of tetrahedral oxo-complexes. The nature of the “charge transfer” transitions

The electronic structures of MnO^?₄, MnO^2?₄, MnO^3?₄, CrO^2?₄, CrO^3?₄, VO^3?₄, RuO₄, RuO^?₄, RuO^2?₄, TcO^?₄ and MoO^2?₄ have been investigated using the Hartree-Fock-Slater Discrete Variational Method. The calculated ordering of the valence orbitals of all the comlexes is: t₁, 4t₂, 3a₁, 1c, 3t₂, with t₁ the orbital of highest energy. The calculated single transition energies are in good agreement with experimental values and indicate the uniform assignment: t₁ → 2e(v₁), 4t₂ → 2e(v₂). t₁ → 5t₂(v₃), and 4t₂ → 5t₂(v₄). A/D values, calculated from the theory of magnetic circular dichroism (MDC) also support this assignment.Population analyses reveal that all complexes, whether d⁰, d¹ or d², have d-orbital populations close to those of the corresponding M²⁺ ions in which two electrons have been removed from the (n + 1)s orbital of M. This is also true of the excited states, such as t₁ → 2e and 4t₂ → 2e, where a transfer of charge from the ligands to the metal has previously been assumed. It is shown that, instead of a transfer of charge from ligands to metal, electronic excitation consists of a rearrangement of electron density both at the ligands and at the metal.