The octahedral complexes form when six ligands approach to the metal so, metal in an octahedral complex requires six hybrid orbitals for the interaction with ligands. Hybrid orbitals are formed by the mixing of s, p and d orbitals.
According to CFT, an octahedral metal complex forms because of the electrostatic interaction of a positively charged metal ion with six negatively charged ligands or with the negative ends of dipoles associated with the six ligands. In addition, the ligands interact with one other electrostatically.
Generally speaking, octahedral complexes will be favored over tetrahedral ones because: It is more (energetically) favorable to form six bonds rather than four. The CFSE is usually greater for octahedral than tetrahedral complexes.
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