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Inorganic Chemistry & Coordination Compounds Flashcards

7 cards from real CPC practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

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  1. Cisplatin is an effective anticancer drug while transplatin is not, primarily because cisplatin can:

    Answer: Form intrastrand crosslinks between two adjacent guanine bases on DNA

    Cisplatin's cis geometry allows it to bridge two adjacent guanine residues on the same DNA strand, blocking replication; transplatin's geometry prevents this intrastrand coordination.

  2. Crystal Field Theory (CFT) accounts for the spectrochemical series by:

    Answer: Treating ligands as point charges and ranking their ability to split d-orbital energies (Δ)

    CFT uses a purely electrostatic model, treating ligands as point charges and ordering them by the magnitude of d-orbital splitting they produce.

  3. What is the Crystal Field Stabilization Energy (CFSE) for a strong-field (low-spin) d6 octahedral complex?

    Answer: −2.4 Δo

    A low-spin d6 complex fills all six electrons into the t2g set (each at −0.4 Δo), giving a total CFSE of 6 × (−0.4 Δo) = −2.4 Δo.

  4. Which of the following complexes exhibits optical isomerism?

    Answer: [Co(en)3]3+

    [Co(en)3]3+ is a tris-bidentate complex with D3 symmetry possessing non-superimposable mirror images (Δ and Λ enantiomers).

  5. The Jahn-Teller distortion is most pronounced for which d-electron configuration in an octahedral complex?

    Answer: d9

    A d9 configuration places electrons unevenly in the eg set (one orbital doubly occupied, one singly occupied), producing the largest Jahn-Teller distortion.

  6. What is the hybridization of the central nickel atom in [Ni(CN)4]2−?

    Answer: dsp2

    CN− is a strong-field ligand; Ni2+ (d8) undergoes dsp2 hybridization, placing all electrons in four orbitals and giving a square planar geometry.

  7. Which of the following is classified as a π-acceptor (pi-acceptor) ligand?

    Answer: CO

    CO donates electrons to the metal via σ-bonding but accepts electron density back from the metal into its π* antibonding orbitals (synergic backbonding).