text: In coordination chemistry, a pi-donor ligand is a kind of ligand endowed with filled non-bonding orbitals that overlap with metal-based orbitals. Their interaction is complementary to the behavior of pi-acceptor ligands. The existence of terminal oxo ligands for the early transition metals is one consequence of this kind of bonding. Classic pi-donor ligands are oxide (O), nitride (N), imide (RN), alkoxide (RO), amide (RN), and fluoride. For late transition metals, strong pi-donors form anti-bonding interactions with the filled d-levels, with consequences for spin state, redox potentials, and ligand exchange rates. Pi-donor ligands are low in the spectrochemical series.