text: Ligand field theory (LFT) describes the bonding, orbital arrangement, and other characteristics of coordination complexes. It represents an application of molecular orbital theory to transition metal complexes. A transition metal ion has nine valence atomic orbitals - consisting of five nd, one (n+1)s, and three (n+1)p orbitals.  These orbitals have the appropriate energy to form bonding interactions with ligands.  The LFT analysis is highly dependent on the geometry of the complex, but most explanations begin by describing octahedral complexes, where six ligands coordinate with the metal. Other complexes can be described with reference to crystal field theory. Inverted ligand field theory (ILFT) elaborates on LFT by breaking assumptions made about relative metal and ligand orbital energies.