Sp3 orbitals

The asymmetry of sp3 orbitals arises because, as noted previously, the two lobes of a p orbital have different algebraic signs, + and -. Thus, when a p orbital hybridizes with an s orbital, the positive p lobe adds to the s orbital but the negative p lobe subtracts from the s orbital. The resultant hybrid orbital is therefore unsymmetrical about the nucleus and is strongly oriented in one direction. 

What accounts for the stability of conjugated dienes According to valence bond theory (Sections 1.5 and 1.8), the stability is due to orbital hybridization. Typical C—C bonds like those in alkanes result from a overlap of 5p3 orbitals on both carbons. In a conjugated diene, however, the central C—C bond results from conjugated diene results in part from the greater amount of s character in the orbitals forming the C-C bond. 

Bonds formed by overlap Bond formed by overfap of sp3 orbitals of sp2 orbitals... 

After rising at copper and zinc, the curve of metallic radii approaches those of the normal covalent radii and tetrahedral covalent radii (which themselves differ for arsenic, selenium, and bromine because of the difference in character of the bond orbitals, which approximate p orbitals for normal covalent bonds and sp3 orbitals for tetrahedral bonds). The bond orbitals for gallium are expected to be composed of 0.22 d orbital, one s orbital, and 2.22 p orbitals, and hence to be only slightly stronger than tetrahedral bonds, as is indicated by the fact that R(l) is smaller than the tetrahedral radius. 

The beautiful Bohr atomic model is, unfortunately, too simple. The electrons do not follow predetermined orbits. Only population probabilities can be given, which are categorized as shells and orbitals. The orbitals can only accommodate two electrons. Shells and orbitals can also merge ("hybridization"). In the case of carbon, the 2s orbital and the three 2p orbitals adopt a configuration in the shape of a tetrahedron. Each of these sp3 orbitals is occupied by one electron. This gives rise to the sterically directed four-bonding ability of carbon. 

Figure 3.16 Dot density diagrams of sp, sp2, and sp3 orbitals. (Reproduced with permission from M. J. Winter, Chemical Bonding, 1994, Oxford University Press, Oxford.)... 

Figure 3.19 Bent-bond representation of the double bond in ethene. The overlap of sp3 orbitals on each carbon atom produces to bend bond (r) orbitals.

The H atom flanked by the two 0=0 groups in (22) exhibits hardly any more acidic character than the analogous one in the corresponding hydrocarbon. The different behaviour of (22) stems from the fact that after proton removal, the carbanion s lone pair would be in an sp3 orbital more or less at right angles to the p orbitals on each of the adjacent carbonyl carbon atoms (cf. p. 259) no sp3/p overlap could thus take place, consequently there would be no stabilisation of the -ve charge through delocalisation, and the (unstabilised) carbanion does not, therefore, form. 

The four sp3 orbitals should be oriented at angles of 109.5° with respect to each other => an sp -hybridized carbon gives a tetrahedral structure for methane. 

The sp3 orbitals of the carbon atoms cannot overlap as effectively as they do in alkane (where perfect end-on overlap is possible). 

Figure 2.3 The shapes of orbitals for the s electron pair, the three pairs of p electrons with obitals mutally at right angles, and the sp3 orbitals which have the major lobes pointing towards the apices of a regular tetrahedron.

The left-most C atom (in the structure drawn below) is sp3 hybridized, and the C-H bonds to that C atom are between the sp3 orbitals on C and the Is orbital on H. The other two C atoms are sp hybridized. The right-hand C-H bond is between the sp orbital on C and the Is orbital on H. The c a C triple bond is composed of one sigma bond formed by overlap of sp orbitals, one from each C atom, and two pi bonds, each formed by the overlap of two 2p orbitals, one from each C atom (that is a 2py—2py overlap and a 2pz—2pz overlap). 

In some atoms, the p and s orbitals are mixed together to form several equivalent, hybridized orbitals. The most common example is carbon, where there are four orbitals that are formed by mixing one s orbital with three p orbitals to give four equivalent orbitals designated as sp3 orbitals. 

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