Other geometries 

The pattern of ligand field splitting relies on the coordination geometry; usually those d orbitals that point very strongly towards the ligands are increased in energy comparative to the others. Figure 4 depicts the splittings produced through some other ligand coordination geometries. Tetrahedral (T_d) coordination provides a splitting in the reverse direction (and approximately half the magnitude) to that found along with octahedral. Tetragonally distorted octahedral (D_4h) coordination come into existence in which two opposite ligands are further from the metal than the other four. In this and in square-planar coordination (also D4h), the d orbital pointing in the direction of ligands in the xy plane is higher in energy than the others. (The main variation from the octahedral case is the lowering in energy of dz²as this interacts less strongly along with the ligands).

Ligand field splitting is occasionally significant in considerate the geometrical preferences of an ion, even though other issues may play a part. The splitting in tetrahedral coordination is just about half that for octahedral, and so in competition among octahedral and tetrahedral geometry the octahedral LFSE is more significant; thus ions like Cr³⁺ (d³) and Co³⁺ (d⁶ low-spin) are almost all the time found in octahedral coordination and are remarkably resistant to creating tetrahedral complexes. Square-planar complexes are found for d⁸ ions while the ligand field splitting is sufficiently large for the electrons to pair in the four lowest orbitals (see Fig. 4c); instances are Ni²⁺ with strong-field ligands, and Pd²⁺ and Pt²⁺ in almost all circumstances.

The geometry of Fig. 4b takes place from a so-called Jahn-Teller distortion of the octahedron. The e_g orbitals are split in energy, and this permits stabilization of a complex if these two orbitals are not equally occupied. So in d⁹ (Cu²⁺) two electrons take place the dz² and D_x2-y2. Almost all Cu²⁺ compounds depict this type of distortion, as do several high spin d4 ions like Cr²⁺.

Fig. Ligand field splitting patterns for (a) tetrahedral, (b) tetragonally distorted octahedral, and (c) square-planar complexes.