Molecular orbital theory hydrogen molecule

HMO theory is named after its developer, Erich Huckel (1896-1980), who published his theory in 1930 [9] partly in order to explain the unusual stability of benzene and other aromatic compounds. Given that digital computers had not yet been invented and that all Hiickel s calculations had to be done by hand, HMO theory necessarily includes many approximations. The first is that only the jr-molecular orbitals of the molecule are considered. This implies that the entire molecular structure is planar (because then a plane of symmetry separates the r-orbitals, which are antisymmetric with respect to this plane, from all others). It also means that only one atomic orbital must be considered for each atom in the r-system (the p-orbital that is antisymmetric with respect to the plane of the molecule) and none at all for atoms (such as hydrogen) that are not involved in the r-system. Huckel then used the technique known as linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) to build these atomic orbitals up into molecular orbitals. This is illustrated in Figure 7-18 for ethylene. 

Valence bond and molecular orbital theory both incorporate the wave description of an atom s electrons into this picture of H2 but m somewhat different ways Both assume that electron waves behave like more familiar waves such as sound and light waves One important property of waves is called interference m physics Constructive interference occurs when two waves combine so as to reinforce each other (m phase) destructive interference occurs when they oppose each other (out of phase) (Figure 2 2) Recall from Section 1 1 that electron waves m atoms are characterized by their wave function which is the same as an orbital For an electron m the most stable state of a hydrogen atom for example this state is defined by the Is wave function and is often called the Is orbital The valence bond model bases the connection between two atoms on the overlap between half filled orbifals of fhe fwo afoms The molecular orbital model assembles a sef of molecular orbifals by combining fhe afomic orbifals of all of fhe atoms m fhe molecule... 

Molecular Orbital Theory Model. Oxygen and hydrogen atoms in H2O are held together by a covalent bond. According to the quantum molecular orbital theory of covalent bonding between atoms, electrons in molecules occupy molecular orbitals that are described, using quantum mechanical language, by a linear combination of... 

A second quantum mechanical bonding theory is molecular orbital theory. This theory is based on a wave description of electrons. The molecular orbital theory assumes that electrons are not associated with an individual atom but are associated with the entire molecule. Delocalized molecular electrons are not shared by two atoms as in the traditional covalent bond. For the hydrogen molecule, the molecular orbitals are formed by the addition of wave functions for each Is electron in each hydrogen atom. The addition leads to a bonding molecular... 

Huckel (properly, Huckel) molecular orbital theory is the simplest of the semiempirical methods and it entails the most severe approximations. In Huckel theory, we take the core to be frozen so that in the Huckel treatment of ethene, only the two unbound electrons in the pz orbitals of the carbon atoms are considered. These are the electrons that will collaborate to form a n bond. The three remaining valence electrons on each carbon are already engaged in bonding to the other carbon and to two hydrogens. Most of the molecule, which consists of nuclei, nonvalence electrons on the carbons and electrons participating in the cr... 

The valence bond and molecular orbital theories differ in how they use the orbitals of two hydrogen atoms to describe the orbital that contains the electron pair in H2. Both theories assume that electron waves behave much like more familiar waves, such as sound and light waves. One property of waves that is important here is called interference in physics. Constructive interference occurs when two waves combine so as to reinforce each other ( in phase ) destructive interference occurs when they oppose each other ( out of phase ) (Figure 1.15). In the valence bond model constructive interference between two electron waves is seen as the basis for the shared electron-pair bond. In the molecular orbital model, the wave functions of molecules are derived by combining wave functions of atoms. 

Considerations similar to those made about electric dipole moments apply to other one-electron properties, for instance the nuclear spin-spin coupling constants between non-bonded hydrogen atoms in molecules like methane. These quantities are approximately equal to zero in the simple molecular orbital theory, as it is easily proved by using equivalent orbitals corresponding to the CH bonds instead of the usual delocalized MO s (34). Actually, the nuclear spins of protons cannot interact wta the electrons, since a localized MO cannot be large on two hydrogens at the same time, and correlation should be primarily responsible for all coupling constants, except perhaps for those observed for directly bonded atoms (see Sec. 4). 

In 1927, Burrau calculated the energy of Hj and Heitler and London treated the hydrogen molecule. In 1928, the Heitler-London or valence bond method was applied to many electron systems, and simultaneously Hund and Mulliken started the development of the molecular orbital theory. In 1931, Slater expressed the v/avefunctions of complex molecules in terms of Slater determinants made up of linear combinations of atomic orbitals. Thus, the Golden Age was born. 

Single determinant ab initio LCAO-SCF molecular orbital theory is used throughout this study (6,7), Molecular geometries were optimized with the minimal STO-3G basis set (8,9), and where possible the energy of the final structure was recalculated with the extended 4-31G basis set (9,10), Such a procedure has been shown to provide a reasonable description of the structures and energies of neutral organic molecules (11) and carbocations (12), The potential surface for the concerted elimination of hydrogen chloride from ethyl chloride also has been studied successfully (13) with this technique. 

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