Editing Ferrous (section)

==Bonding==
[[File:L.s. vs h.s. d6 octahedral.svg|thumb|d-orbital splitting scheme for low- and high spin octahedral Fe(II) complexes.]]Iron(II) is a d<sup>6</sup> center, meaning that the metal has six "valence" electrons in the 3d orbital shell. The number and type of ligands bound to iron(II) determine how these electrons arrange themselves. With the so-called "strong field ligands" such as [[cyanide]], the six electrons pair up. Thus [[ferrocyanide]] ({{chem2|[Fe(CN)6](4-)}} has no unpaired electrons, meaning it is a low-spin complex. With so-called "weak field ligands" such as [[water]], four of the six electrons are unpaired, meaning it is a [[High Spin Complex|high-spin]] complex. Thus [[aquo complex]] {{chem2|[Fe(H2O)6](2+)}} is [[paramagnetic]]. With [[chloride]], iron(II) forms tetrahedral complexes, e.g. {{chem2|[FeCl4](2-)}}. Tetrahedral complexes are high-spin complexes.