Halides of Si, Ge and Sn form complexes, while carbon halides do not form complexes, because

Options

A. Carbon atom has a small size
B. All the four valence electrons of the carbon atom are involved in bonding
C. Carbon forms tetrahedral bonds
D. The valence shell of carbon has no (vacant) d-orbitals

Answer

D

Explanation

Carbon tetra halides do not form complexes because carbon has no d - orbitlas in the outer shell and cannot increase its coordination number. The halides of the rest of the elements form complexes due to availability of vacant d- orbitals in the valence shells and these elements can increase their coordination number from four to six. The examples are
`[SiF_(6)]^(2-),[GeF_(6)]^(2-),[SnCl_(6)]^(2-)`