Strong dependence of 10Dq on the metal-ligand distance: Key role played by the s-p hybridization on ligands

The strong dependence of the crystal field splitting parameter in Oh transition metal complexes upon the metal-ligand distance is explored by means of two different but complementary methods. The microscopic origin of this phenomenon mainly comes from a fine detail in the eg wavefunction: the small admixture of s valence ligand orbitals with the corresponding p orbitals.