Valence-bond model stabilization

Electrostatic stabilization, 181, 195,225-228 Empirical valence bond model, see Valence bond model, empirical Energy minimization methods, 114-117 computer programs for, 128-132 convergence of, 115 local vr. overall minima, 116-117 use in protein structure determination,... 

The Knudsen effusion method In conjunction with mass spectrometrlc analysis has been used to determine the bond energies and appearance potentials of diatomic metals and small metallic clusters. The experimental bond energies are reported and Interpreted In terms of various empirical models of bonding, such as the Pauling model of a polar single bond, the empirical valence bond model for certain multiply-bonded dlatomlcs, the atomic cell model, and bond additivity concepts. The stability of positive Ions of metal molecules Is also discussed. 

Bonding. —In the valence-bond description of XeF2, Coulson has emphasized the dominance of the canonical forms (F-Xe)+F and F (Xe-F) in the resonance hybrid. This representation accounts well for the polarity FXe F , indicated by nmr, Moss-bauer, ESCA, and thermodynamic data. It is particularly impressive that the enthalpy of sublimina-tion derived for the XeFy case, by Rice and his co-workers in 1963, on the basis of the charge distribution "FXe+F , is 13.3 kcal mol , whereas the experimental value reported in 1968 is 13.2 kcal mol . It should be recognized that the Coulson valence-bond model is not, in the final analysis, significantly different from the Rundle and Pimentel three-center molecular orbital description or the Bilham and Linnett one-electron-bond description, but it does provide for a more straightforward estimation of thermodynamic stabilities of compounds than the other approaches do. 

Valence-bond models of bonding in (a) benzyl cation, (W benzyl radical, and (c) benzyl anion. Overlap of the 2p orbital of the benzylic carbon with the IT system of the benzene ring creates an extended n system that stabilizes each one by electron delocalization. 

Resonance between three 7t-complex structures might lead to stabilization of 1 in the sense of 7t-aromatic stabilization involving the six CC bond electrons. Therefore, Dewar8 has discussed the stability of 1 in terms of a u-aromatic stabilization (Section V). However, spin-coupled valence bond theory clearly shows that 1 cannot be considered as the aromatic benzene51. The 7t-complex description of 1 is a (very formal) model description, which should be discarded as soon as it leads to conflicting descriptions of the properties of 1. This will be discussed in Section V. 

In the preceding section, we discussed the electron pair (2c-2e) bond and how it can be influenced by Pauli repulsion of the SOMOs with other electrons. In the three-electron (2c-3e) bond, Pauli repulsion plays an even more fundamental role, as we will see.72 The idea of the three-electron bond was introduced in the early 1930s by Pauling in the context of the valence bond (VB) model of the chemical bond.70 71 Since then, it has been further developed both in VB and in MO theory and has become a standard concept in chemistry.118-129 In VB theory,7°>71 118 123 the two-center, three-electron (2c-3e) bond between two fragments A and B is viewed as arising from a stabilizing resonance between two valence bond structures in which an electron pair is on fragment A and an unpaired electron on B (13a), or the other way around (13b) ... 

In the valence-bond (VB) model, this effect results from the fact that radicals of this type can be stabilized by resonance (Table 1.1, right). In the MO model, the stabilization of radical centers of this type is due to the overlap of the n system of the unsaturated substituent with the 2pz AO at the radical center (Figure 1.5). This overlap is called conjugation. 

Although it is easy to demonstrate that benzene and other "aromatic" systems are stabilized, it is not as easy to determine the exact origin of the stabilization. Both valence bond and molecular orbital theories can provide a formalism for "explaining" the stabilization, and the latter can quantitatively account for the energy of benzene and its low reactivity. However, they do not provide a physical model for the stabilization. The latter must come from a consideration of the electron density distribution, for that alone determines the energy of a molecule. 

Ponthieux S, Paulmier C (2000) Selenium-Stabilized Carbanions.208 113-142 Raimondi M, Cooper DL (1999) Ab Initio Modern Valence Bond Theory. 203 105-120 RenaudP (2000) Radical Reactions Using Selenium Precursors.208 81-112 Roeggen I (1999) Extended Geminal Models. 203 89-103... 

Soon after the development of the quantum mechanical model of the atom, physicists such as John H. van Vleck (1928) began to investigate a wave-mechanical concept of the chemical bond. The electronic theories of valency, polarity, quantum numbers, and electron distributions in atoms were described, and the valence bond approximation, which depicts covalent bonding in molecules, was built upon these principles. In 1939, Linus Pauling s Nature of the Chemical Bond offered valence bond theory (VBT) as a plausible explanation for bonding in transition metal complexes. His application of VBT to transition metal complexes was supported by Bjerrum s work on stability that suggested electrostatics alone could not account for all bonding characteristics. 

Valence bond theory is one of the two quantum mechanical approaches that explain bonding in molecules. It accounts, at least qualitatively, for the stability of the covalent bond in terms of overlapping atomic orbitals. Using the concept of hybridization, valence bond theory can explain molecular geometries predicted by the VSEPR model. However, the assumption that electrons in a molecule occupy atomic orbitals of the individual atoms can only be an approximation, since each bonding electron in a molecule must be in an orbital that is characteristic of the molecule as a whole. 

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