Describing Chemical Bonds Molecular Orbital Theory

Sulfur is most commonly encountered in biological molecules either in compounds called thiols, which have a sulfur atom bonded to one hydrogen and one carbon, or in sulfides, which have a sulfur atom bonded to two carbons. Produced by some bacteria, methanethiol (CH3SH) is the simplest example of a thiol, and dimethyl sulfide [(CH3)2S] is the simplest example of a sulfide. Both can be described by approximate sp hybridization around sulfur, although both have significant deviation from the 109.5° tetrahedral angle. 

Identify all nonbonding lone pairs of electrons in the following molecules, and tell what geometry you expect for each of the indicated atoms. 

We said in Section 1.5 that chemists use two models for describing covalent bonds valence bond theory and molecular orbital theory. Having now seen the valence bond approach, which uses hybrid atomic orbitals to account for geometry and assumes the overlap of atomic orbitals to account for electron sharing, let s look briefly at the molecular orbital approach to bonding. We ll return to the topic in Chapters 14, 15, and 30 for a more in-depth discussion. 

Molecular orbital (MO) theory describes covalent bond formation as arising from a mathematical combination of atomic orbitals (wave functions) on different atoms to form molecular orbitals, so called because they belong to the entire molecule rather than to an individual atom. Just as an atomic orbital. 

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I Describing Chemical Bonds Molecular Orbital Theory 19... 

Gas-surface interactions and reactions on surfaces play a crucial role in many technologically important areas such as corrosion, adhesion, synthesis of new materials, electrochemistry and heterogeneous catalysis. This chapter aims to describe the interaction of gases with metal surfaces in terms of chemical bonding. Molecular orbital and band structure theory are the basic tools for this. We limit ourselves to metals. 

Molecular orbital theory (Section 2.4) Theory of chemical bonding in which electrons are assumed to occupy orbitals in molecules much as they occupy orbitals in atoms. The molecular orbitals are described as combinations of the orbitals of all of the atoms that make up the molecule. 

If molecules or atoms form a chemical bond with the surface upon adsorption, we call this chemisorption. To describe the chemisorption bond we need to briefly review a simplified form of molecular orbital theory. This is also necessary to appreciate, at least qualitatively, how a catalyst works. As described in Qiapter 1, the essence of catalytic action is often that it assists in breaking strong intramolecular bonds at low temperatures. We aim to explain how this happens in a simplified, qualitative electronic picture. 

Throughout the book, theoretical concepts and experimental evidence are integrated An introductory chapter summarizes the principles on which the Periodic Table is established and describes the periodicity of various atomic properties which are relevant to chemical bonding. Symmetry and group theory are introduced to serve as the basis of all molecular orbital treatments of molecules. This basis is then applied to a variety of covalent molecules with discussions of bond lengths and angles and hence molecular shapes. Extensive comparisons of valence bond theory and VSEPR theory with molecular orbital theory are included Metallic bonding is related to electrical conduction and semi-conduction. 

We have used the concepts of the resonance methods many times in previous chapters to explain the chemical behavior of compounds and to describe the structures of compounds that cannot be represented satisfactorily by a single valence-bond structure (e.g., benzene, Section 6-5). We shall assume, therefore, that you are familiar with the qualitative ideas of resonance theory, and that you are aware that the so-called resonance and valence-bond methods are in fact synonymous. The further treatment given here emphasizes more directly the quantum-mechanical nature of valence-bond theory. The basis of molecular-orbital theory also is described and compared with valence-bond theory. First, however, we shall discuss general characteristics of simple covalent bonds that we would expect either theory to explain. 

The term resonance does not mean that the molecule physically oscillates back and forth from one of these bonding structures to the other. Rather, within the limitations of the Lewis dot model of bonding, the best representation of the actual bonding is a hybrid diagram that includes features of each of the acceptable individual diagrams. This awkwardness can be avoided by using molecular orbital theory to describe chemical bonding (see Chapter 6). 

Most transition metals have a number of stable oxidation states that lead to different kinds of chemical bonds and facilitate electron transfer reactions. Molecular orbital theory satisfactorily describes bonding in transition metal compounds and coordination complexes. 

Different properties in these hydrocarbons are the result of the different types of bonding involving carbon. The shared electron pair, or Lewis model of chemical bonding described in Section 1.3, does not account for all of the differences. In the following sections, we will consider two additional bonding theories the valence bond model and molecular orbital theory. 

Werner s coordination theory, with its concept of secondary valence, provides an adequate explanation for the existence of such complexes as [Co(NH3)6]Cl3-Some properties and the stereochemistry of these complexes are also explained by the theory, which remains the real foundation of coordination chemistry. Since Werner s work predated by about twenty years our present electronic concept of the atom, his theory does not describe in modem terms the nature of the secondary valence or, as it is now called, the coordinate bond. Three theories currently used to describe the nature of bonding in metal complexes are (1) valence bond theory (VBT), (2) crystal field theory (CFT), and (3) molecular orbital theory (MOT). We shall first describe the contributions of G. N. Lewis and N. V. Sidgwick to the theory of chemical bonding. 

The molecular orbital theory of chemical bonding rests on the notion that, as electrons in atoms occupy atomic orbitals, electrons in molecules occupy molecular orbitals. Just as our first task in writing the electron configuration of an atom is to identify the atomic orbitals that are available to it, so too must we first describe the orbitals available to a molecule. In the molecular orbital method this is done by representing molecular orbitals as combinations of atomic orbitals, the linear combination of atomic orbitals-molecular orbital (LCAO-MO) method. 

In earlier chapters we classified the symmetry of atomic orbitals (AOs) in a number of example molecules. It is now time to develop the ideas of molecular orbital (MO) theory and use it to describe chemical bonding. Symmetry classifications help in the MO description of chemical bonding because symmetry controls how the AOs on neighbouring atoms mix together. MOs are the wavefunctions for electrons in the complex field of the many nuclei and other eleetrons that make up a molecule. The complexity of MOs can be dealt with by constructing them from the AOs of the isolated atoms. The MOs are formed by mixing the AOs based on the idea of interference described by the superposition of waves when waves come together in the same phase they reinforce one another, whereas waves of opposite phase will tend to cancel each other out. 

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