Reply to comment on “optical properties of Ni[t-bu2P(O)NR]2. A paramagnetic d8 complex with planar structure”

For a proof whether the chelate angle is the root cause of a triplet level being the ground state of Kuchenʹs planar Ni(II) compounds, Bridgeman and Gerloch must use model parameter values which are derived from experiment. Their preliminary calculations employ parameters that are in conflict with their own cellular ligand-field (CLF) computations when using a parameter fit which they call ‘well defined’. The use of the void-extended CLF scheme for solving the present problem is questioned, particularly when parameter comparability to other compounds is abandoned — as this model implies.