1. Tardigrade
  2. Question
  3. Chemistry
  4. The red colour of oxyhaemoglobin is mainly due to

Question Error Report

Thank you for reporting, we will resolve it shortly

Back to Question

Q. The red colour of oxyhaemoglobin is mainly due to

NTA AbhyasNTA Abhyas 2020Coordination Compounds

Solution:

When oxygen is bound to $Fe^{2 +}$ in heme, all the d-electrons of the Fe atom are forced into the three lower energy $t_{2 g}$ orbitals and it produces low spin oxyhaemoglobin.

In oxyhaemoglobin, $Fe^{2 +}=\left[A r\right]3d^{6}$

Solution

The sharp high energy transition between $t_{2 g}$ and $e_{g}$ levels of the d-electrons is responsible for the bright red colour of oxyhaemoglobin.