Chemical bonding quantum mechanical theory

There are currently three different approaches to understanding chemical bonding. Quantum mechanical calculations see Ab Initio Calculations, Molecular Orbital Theory), even though they give the most complete picture, offer few insights into the nature of chemical bonds themselves because the concept of a bond does not arise naturally from a formahsm based on the interactions between nuclei and electrons rather than the interaction between atoms. Even though quantum mechanics gives accurate values for measurable properties, its calculations are compnter intensive and it becomes more difficult to use the more complex the chemical system. 

Quantum Mechanics offers the most comprehensive and most successful explanation of many chemical phenomena such as the nature of valency and bonding as well as chemical reactivity. It has also provided a fundamental explanation of the periodic system of the elements which summarizes a vast amount of empirical chemical knowledge. Quantum Mechanics has become increasingly important in the education of chemistry students. The general principles provided by the theory mean that students can now spend less time memorizing chemical facts and more time in actually thinking about chemistry. 

What Are the Key Ideas The central ideas of this chapter are, first, that electrostatic repulsions between electron pairs determine molecular shapes and, second, that chemical bonds can be discussed in terms of two quantum mechanical theories that describe the distribution of electrons in molecules. 

In this section, you have used Lewis structures to represent bonding in ionic and covalent compounds, and have applied the quantum mechanical theory of the atom to enhance your understanding of bonding. All chemical bonds—whether their predominant character is ionic, covalent, or between the two—result from the atomic structure and properties of the bonding atoms. In the next section, you will learn how the positions of atoms in a compound, and the arrangement of the bonding and lone pairs of electrons, produce molecules with characteristic shapes. These shapes, and the forces that arise from them, are intimately linked to the physical properties of substances, as you will see in the final section of the chapter. 

The existing phenomenological theories of catalysis bear approximately the same relation to the electron theory as the theory of the chemical bond, which was prevalent in the last century and which made use of valence signs (and dealt only with these signs), bears to the modern quantum-mechanical theory of the chemical bond which has given the old valence signs physical content, thereby disclosing the physical nature of the chemical forces. 

What he does not seem to realize is that a perfectly good explanation existed for chemical bonding prior to the advent of the quantum mechanical explanation, namely Lewis s theory whereby pairs of electrons form the bonds between the various atoms in a covalently bonded molecule. Although the quantum mechanical theory provides a more fundamental explanation in terms of exchange energy and so on is undeniable but it also retains the notion of pairs of electrons even if this notion is now augmented by the view that electrons have anti-parallel spins within such pairs. 

Van t Hoff postulated free rotation round a single bond in order to explain the lack of cis and Irons isomers in molecules of the type of di-chlorethane. In the light of the quantum mechanical theory of the chemical bond, the free rotation is explained by the axial symmetiy of the a bond between the two carbon atoms. Thus the a bond is not in itself a hindrance to free rotation, but as the rotation occurs the relative configurations of the atoms will be changed, so that the distances between the non-bonded atoms and consequently their energies of interaction will alter. 

But the point particles of physics ignore shape and size that are the axiomatic attributes of the subject of chemistry, be they atoms, molecules, proteins joined in a supposedly particular configuration by "chemical bonds", or transient lipid vesicles or micelles. And where one object ends and another begins is not so self-evident. The notion of a bond that emerges from a quantum mechanical theory of two interacting atoms is not so obvious if those objects are immersed in a sea of their neighbours, forming a solid or liquid. 

It is important to say, from the start, that covalent bonding and other molecular properties can be studied quantum mechanically without reference to molecular orbitals. We are referring to valence bond theory which, being based on the orbital concept for atoms, was, in fact, the first quantum-mechanical theory of the chemical bond. In Chapter 8, we will make a more detailed reference to this method. Our main concern in this and the coming chapters is molecular orbital theory. 

Soon after the development of the quantum mechanical model of the atom, physicists such as John H. van Vleck (1928) began to investigate a wave-mechanical concept of the chemical bond. The electronic theories of valency, polarity, quantum numbers, and electron distributions in atoms were described, and the valence bond approximation, which depicts covalent bonding in molecules, was built upon these principles. In 1939, Linus Pauling s Nature of the Chemical Bond offered valence bond theory (VBT) as a plausible explanation for bonding in transition metal complexes. His application of VBT to transition metal complexes was supported by Bjerrum s work on stability that suggested electrostatics alone could not account for all bonding characteristics. 

Mulliken worked on valence theory and molecular structure starting in the 1920s. In 1952 he developed a quantum-mechanical theory of the behavior of electron orbitals as different atoms merge to form molecules, and in 1966 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his fundamental work concerning chemical bonds and the electronic structure of molecules by the molecular orbital method. ... 

Electrons are the main atom components that will play a fundamental role in the structure of the newly formed molecular bond. Quantum mechanics provides us with a mathematical expression describing the probability of finding an electron in every position of space. However, this theory does not explain how an electron moves from one position to another. Therefore, the notion of orbital has been introduced in order to explain the probability of finding an electron at various points in space. Each type of orbitals corresponds to one of the possible combinations of quantum numbers. An orbital can have two electrons of opposite spin signs, one electron or can be vacant. In the ground state, chemical bonds will occur in such a way so that the two electrons will now belong to the formed molecular bond. The two electrons will occupy or share a molecular orbital. 

Next, we learn a quantum mechanical approach, called the valence bond (VB) theory, in the study of chemical bonds. The VB theory explains why and how chemical bonds form in terms of atomic orbital overlaps. (10.3)... 

Useful information can be obtained from the experimental determination of the activation energy and preexponential factor separately, since they are determined by different factors. According to the quantum mechanical theory, the value of the preexponential factor in proton transfer reactions is determined mainly by the characteristics of the chemical bond to be broken, whereas the activation energy is determined by the Franck-Condon potential barrier associated with solvent polarization. Experimental investigation of the hydrogen evolution reaction from the ions and CHaCNH" in water and in... 

Quantum-mechanical theory describes the behavior of electrons in atoms. Since chemical bonding involves the transfer or sharing of electrons, quantum-mechanical theory helps us understand and describe chemical behavior. As we saw in Chapter 7, electrons in atoms exist within orbitals. An electron configuration for an atom shows the particular orbitals that electrons occupy for that atom. For example, consider the ground state—or lowest energy state—electron configuration for a hydrogen atom ... 

It is not clear whether it is the superior quantitative nature of the quantum mechanical theory that McLaughlin is so impressed by, since he does not say. The only argument offered is that the quantum mechanical theory led directly to the elucidation of the structure of DNA and so on. If one separates any implications of the quantum mechanical theory of chemical bonding for the later developments in molecular biology as I... 

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