Ethane hybridization

FIGURE 2 10 The C—C ct bond in ethane pictured as an overlap of a half filled sp orbital of one carbon with a half filled sp hybrid orbital of the other... 

Bonding m n butane and isobutane continues the theme begun with methane ethane and propane All of the carbon atoms are sp hybridized all of the bonds are ct bonds and the bond angles at carbon are close to tetrahedral This generalization holds for all alkanes regardless of the number of carbons they have... 

The property that most separates acetylene from ethane and ethylene is its acidity too can be explained on the basis of the greater electronegativity of sp hybridized... 

At 146 pm the C 2—C 3 distance m 1 3 butadiene is relatively short for a carbon-carbon single bond This is most reasonably seen as a hybridization effect In ethane both carbons are sp hybridized and are separated by a distance of 153 pm The carbon-carbon single bond m propene unites sp and sp hybridized carbons and is shorter than that of ethane Both C 2 and C 3 are sp hybridized m 1 3 butadiene and a decrease m bond distance between them reflects the tendency of carbon to attract electrons more strongly as its s character increases... 

Structure. Ethylene is a planar molecule with a carbon—carbon bond distance of 0.134 nm, which is shorter than the C—C bond length of 0.153 nm found in ethane. The C—H bond distance is 0.110 nm, and the bond angles are [Pg.432]

Here, the bonding between carbon atoms is briefly reviewed fuller accounts can be found in many standard chemistry textbooks, e.g., [1]. The carbon atom [ground state electronic configuration (ls )(2s 2px2py)] can form sp sp and sp hybrid bonds as a result of promotion and hybridisation. There are four equivalent 2sp hybrid orbitals that are tetrahedrally oriented about the carbon atom and can form four equivalent tetrahedral a bonds by overlap with orbitals of other atoms. An example is the molecule ethane, CjH, where a Csp -Csp (or C-C) a bond is formed between two C atoms by overlap of sp orbitals, and three Csp -Hls a bonds are formed on each C atom. Fig. 1, Al. 

Section 2.7 The carbon-carbon bond in ethane is a a bond in which an sp hybrid orbital one carbon overlaps with an sp hybrid orbital of the other. 

The same kind of orbital hybridization that accounts for the methane structure also accounts for the bonding together of carbon atoms into chains and rings to make possible many millions of organic compounds. Ethane, C2H6, is the simplest molecule containing a carbon-carbon bond. 

Although it is rather certain that electrostatic interactions of polar groups, steric hindrance, and partial double bond character due to conjugation will all be of importance in selected molecules, the explanation of the barrier in ethane probably requires something else. Though far from being proven and certainly not now useful for prediction, the idea that the ethane barrier arises from repulsion of C—H bond orbitals on the carbons, due to their being more concentrated than sp hybrids, seems the most plausible picture available. 

When there is more than one central atom in a molecule, we concentrate on each atom in turn and match the hybridization of each atom to the shape at that atom predicted by VSEPR. For example, in ethane, C2H6 (38), the two carbon atoms are both central atoms. According to the VSEPR model, the four electron pairs around each carbon atom take up a tetrahedral arrangement. This arrangement suggests sp hybridization of the carbon atoms, as shown in Fig. 3.14. Each... 

Acetylene, where the carbon is sp hybridized with 50% s character, is much more acidic than ethylene (sp, 33% s), which in turn is more acidic than ethane, with 25% 5 character. Increased s character means that the electrons are closer to the nucleus and hence of lower energy. As previously mentioned, cyclopropyl carbanions are more stable than methyl, owing to the larger amount of s character as a result of strain (see p. 181). 

A preparation of the third nitrogenase from A. vinelandii, isolated from a molybdenum-tolerant strain but lacking the structural genes for the molybdenum and vanadium nitrogenases, was discovered to contain FeMoco 194). The 8 subunit encoded by anfG was identified in this preparation, which contained 24 Fe atoms and 1 Mo atom per mol. EPR spectroscopy and extraction of the cofactor identified it as FeMoco. The hybrid enzyme could reduce N2 to ammonia and reduced acetylene to ethylene and ethane. The rate of formation of ethane was nonlinear and the ethane ethylene ratio was strongly dependent on the ratio of nitrogenase components. 

The lower signal is more complicated, and before we can interpret it exactly we need some background information. The magnitude of one-bond C-C coupling constants depends on bond hybridization (ethane 35, ethene 68, benzene 56, ethyne 172 Hz), while two- and three-bond C-C couplings are very small, often around 2-5 Hz. The second thing we have to remember, and this is a new concept, is that the lines in the multiplets from INADEQUATE spectra often come from different spin systems ... 

Figure 1.17 The hypothetical formation of the bonding molecular orbitals of ethane from two sp -hybridized carbon atoms and six hydrogen atoms. All of the bonds are sigma bonds. (Antibonding sigma molecular orbitals — are called a orbitals — are formed in each instance as well, but for simplicity these are not shown.)... 

Sigma and pi NBOs of hydrocarbons ethane, ethylene, acetylene Let us turn now to the actual NBOs for the classical cases of equivalent sp" hybridization acetylene (n = 1), ethylene (n = 2), and methane (n = 3). In each case, the NBO results are in excellent agreement with the expected Lewis structures,... 

Fig. 12. (a) An octadentate tetra(3-hydroxy-2-pyridinone) chelator on an ethane-1,2-diamine template and (b) a hybrid desferrioxamine-3-hydroxy-2-pyridinone chelator. 

We have already explained. In terms of hybridisation, how a carbon atom can form four sp hybrid orbitals (see p. 47). We can apply this concept to explain the bonding in alkanes. Ethane is taken as an example of a typical alkane. The four sp hybrid orbitals on each carbon atom will overlap end-on with four other orbitals three hydrogen Is orbitals and one sp hybrid orbital on the other carbon atom. Four cr bonds will be formed and they will adopt a tetrahedral arrangement. This is illustrated for ethane in the diagram. 

The pATa of the hydrocarbon ethane is about 50, that of ethylene about 44, and that of acetylene is about 25. The hybridization of the C-H bond in ethane is sp (25% i character), in ethylene it... 

Methane, ethane and hybridization Table 13.1. CH ST03G energies. 

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