The electronic configurations

Before we discuss the use of orbitals in bonding, there is an important principle that we should state at this point. 

It was stated by Pauli in 1925 and is known as the Pauli exclusion principle whetherasinale atonu or a molecule, no two 

The principle may be expressed physically if two electrons have identical parameters, then they will be in the same place at the same time but there is no mathematical proof of the principle. 

In the first chapter, we mentioned the existence of the spin quantum number in the earlier theory, in order to explain some of the lines which were observed in the hydrogen spectrum under high resolution. 

the existence of such a quantum number is not required for satisfactory solutions of the Schrodinger wave equation in any of the cases we have discussed. However, investigation of the spectrum of helium suggests that its two electrons go into the Is orbital with opposite spins. 

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Aufbau principle In building up the electronic configuration of an atom or a molecule in its ground state, the electrons are placed in the orbitals in order of increasing energy. 

To arrive at the electronic configuration of an atom the appropriate number of electrons are placed in the orbitals in order of energy, the orbitals of lower energy being filled first (Aufbau principle ), subject to the proviso that for a set of equivalent orbitals - say the three p orbitals in a set - the electrons are placed one... 

Molecules. The electronic configurations of molecules can be built up by direct addition of atomic orbitals (LCAO method) or by considering molecular orbitals which occupy all of the space around the atoms of the molecule (molecular orbital method). 

Hund s rules Rules which describe the electronic configuration of degenerate orbitals in the ground state. The electronic configuration will have the maximum number of unpaired... 

One aspect that reflects the electronic configuration of fullerenes relates to the electrochemically induced reduction and oxidation processes in solution. In good agreement with the tlireefold degenerate LUMO, the redox chemistry of [60]fullerene, investigated primarily with cyclic voltammetry and Osteryoung square wave voltammetry, unravels six reversible, one-electron reduction steps with potentials that are equally separated from each other. The separation between any two successive reduction steps is -450 50 mV. The low reduction potential (only -0.44 V versus SCE) of the process, that corresponds to the generation of the rt-radical anion 131,109,110,111 and 1121, deserves special attention. 

Give the electronic configurations of elements with atomic numbers. 7,11,17,20,26,30 and 36. 

Pure anhydrous aluminium chloride is a white solid at room temperature. It is composed of double molecules in which a chlorine atom attached to one aluminium atom donates a pair of electrons to the neighbouring aluminium atom thus giving each aluminium the electronic configuration of a noble gas. By doing so each aluminium takes up an approximately tetrahedral arrangement (p. 41). It is not surprising that electron pair donors are able to split the dimer to form adducts, and ether, for example, forms the adduct. 

The electronic configuration of each halogen is one electron less than that of a noble gas, and it is not surprising therefore, that all the halogens can accept electrons to form X" ions. Indeed, the reactions X(g) + e - X (g), are all exothermic and the values (see Table 11.1), though small relative to the ionisation energies, are all larger than the electron affinity of any other atom. 

The element lanthanum (atomic number 57) has the electronic configuration... 

The normalisation factor is assumed. It is often convenient to indicate the spin of each electron in the determinant this is done by writing a bar when the spin part is P (spin down) a function without a bar indicates an a spin (spin up). Thus, the following are all commonly used ways to write the Slater determinantal wavefunction for the beryllium atom (which has the electronic configuration ls 2s ) ... 

File shielding constant for the valence electrons of silicon is obtained using SlateZs rules as followrs. The electronic configuration of Si is (ls )(2s 2p )(3s 3p ). We therefore count... 

Areen silicon and germanium are ascribed to the d electron states silicon does not have 3 d electrons, whereas germanium does. Certain transitions (e.g. carbon /3 hn) do depend upon the d character of the electronic configuration in contrast to subsequent isitions. 

The electron configuration is the orbital description of the locations of the electrons in an unexcited atom. Using principles of physics, chemists can predict how atoms will react based upon the electron configuration. They can predict properties such as stability, boiling point, and conductivity. Typically, only the outermost electron shells matter in chemistry, so we truncate the inner electron shell notation by replacing the long-hand orbital description with the symbol for a noble gas in brackets. This method of notation vastly simplifies the description for large molecules. 

Example The electron configuration for Be is Is lsfi but we write [He]2s where [He] is equivalent to all the electron orbitals in the helium atom. The Letters, s, p, d, and f designate the shape of the orbitals and the superscript gives the number of electrons in that orbital. 

The third period begins with sodium and ends with argon The atomic number Z of sodium is 11 and so a sodium atom has 11 electrons The maximum number of electrons in the Is 2s and 2p orbitals is ten and so the eleventh electron of sodium occupies a 3s orbital The electron configuration of sodium IS 2s 2p 2p 2p is ... 

The molecular orbital approach to chemical bonding rests on the notion that as elec trons m atoms occupy atomic orbitals electrons m molecules occupy molecular orbitals Just as our first task m 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 avail able to a molecule In the molecular orbital method this is done by representing molec ular orbitals as combinations of atomic orbitals the linear combination of atomic orbitals molecular orbital (LCAO MO) method... 

Not all ligands use just two electrons to bond to transition metals Chromium has the electron configuration [Ar]4s 3rf (6 valence electrons) and needs 12 more to satisfy the 18 electron rule In the compound (benzene)tricarbonylchromium 6 of these 12 are the tt elec Irons of the benzene ring the remammg 6 are from the three carbonyl ligands... 

The electronic configuration for an element s ground state (Table 4.1) is a shorthand representation giving the number of electrons (superscript) found in each of the allowed sublevels (s, p, d, f) above a noble gas core (indicated by brackets). In addition, values for the thermal conductivity, the electrical resistance, and the coefficient of linear thermal expansion are included. 

Chemical Properties. The electron configuration of the iodine atom is [Kr]4d ° and its ground state is. Principal oxidation states... 

Although rare-earth ions are mosdy trivalent, lanthanides can exist in the divalent or tetravalent state when the electronic configuration is close to the stable empty, half-fUed, or completely fiUed sheUs. Thus samarium, europium, thuUum, and ytterbium can exist as divalent cations in certain environments. On the other hand, tetravalent cerium, praseodymium, and terbium are found, even as oxides where trivalent and tetravalent states often coexist. The stabili2ation of the different valence states for particular rare earths is sometimes used for separation from the other trivalent lanthanides. The chemicals properties of the di- and tetravalent ions are significantly different. 

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