Delocalized valence electrons

Note Carbon atoms lie at the vertices of the hexagon (the six C-H bonds radiating from each comer are not shown in the stick structures). The last structure depicts six valence electrons delocalized around the ring. 

A FIGURE 12.21 Election-sea model of metalic bonding. The valence electrons delocalize to fomi a sea of mobile electrons that surrounds and binds together an extended array of metal ions. 

The altered surface properties of metal alloys can also be interpreted in terms of valence electron delocalization changes. Delocalization changes because of altered metal atom-metal atom overlap energies and different positions of the... 

The increased covalent interaction between Ni and Ru balances the loss in electron delocalization due to the stretched distance between the Ni atoms. Hence, the interaction energies with H are unaltered. However, because of the increasing covalent interaction with W, which has more extended d-atomic orbitals and a lower d-valence electron count compared to Ru, the Ni d-valence electron delocalization increases for the Ni/W system. Hence, the interaction energy with H is found to decrease. 

Since there are so many closely spaced states from so many atoms, the valence electrons delocalize and can move freely throughout the solid. Thus, one can think of a metal as an electron gas which moves through a lattice of positive ion cores. The binding comes from the presence of the electron density between the ion cores whose attractive force overcomes the repulsive force between the ions, very much like the presence of the anions between the cations in the case of ionic bonding. Since the electrons are delocalized, the metallic bond... 

Because the electrons in a metal become delocalized, it may seem strange that the hard sphere size of the ions cores consistent with the measured density of the solid is larger than the ionic diameter used to calculate the size of ionic compoimds. The explanation is that a delocalized electron is not completely lost from the ion core as it is when transferred to an electronegative atom. The delocalized electrons are shared among all of the ion cores so the effective size of the ion core is less diminished when its valence electrons delocalized. 

The difference between the two extremes is essentially that, in the former, the Re retains its valence electrons in its d orbitals whereas in the latter it loses 6 of them to delocalized ligand orbitals. In either case paramagnetism is anticipated since rhenium has an odd number of valence electrons. The magnetic moment of 1.79 BM corresponding to 1 unpaired electron, and esr evidence showing that this electron is situated predominantly on the ligands, indicates that an intermediate oxidation state is involved... 

Another species in which delocalized pi orbitals play an important role is benzene, QHg. There are 30 valence electrons in the molecule, 24 of which are required to form the sigma H H bond framework ... 

In Chapter 9, we considered a simple picture of metallic bonding, the electron-sea model The molecular orbital approach leads to a refinement of this model known as band theory. Here, a crystal of a metal is considered to be one huge molecule. Valence electrons of the metal are fed into delocalized molecular orbitals, formed in the usual way from atomic... 

Because each lithium atom has one valence electron and each molecular orbital can hold two electrons, it follows that the lower half of the valence band (shown in color in Figure 5) is filled with electrons. The upper half of the band is empty. Electrons near the top of the filled MOs can readily jump to empty MOs only an infinitesimal distance above them. This is what happens when an electrical field is applied to the crystal the movement of electrons through delocalized MOs accounts for the electrical conductivity of lithium metal. 

In molecular orbital theory, electrons occupy orbitals called molecular orbitals that spread throughout the entire molecule. In other words, whereas in the Lewis and valence-bond models of molecular structure the electrons are localized on atoms or between pairs of atoms, in molecular orbital theory all valence electrons are delocalized over the whole molecule, not confined to individual bonds. 

The boranes are electron-deficient compounds (Section 3.8) we cannot write valid Lewis structures for them, because too few electrons are available. For instance, there are 8 atoms in diborane, so we need at least 7 bonds however, there are only 12 valence electrons, and so we can form at most 6 electron-pair bonds. In molecular orbital theory, these electron pairs are regarded as delocalized over the entire molecule, and their bonding power is shared by several atoms. In diborane, for instance, a single electron pair is delocalized over a B—H—B unit. It binds all three atoms together with bond order of 4 for each of the B—H bridging bonds. The molecule has two such bridging three-center bonds (9). 

Important changes in the electronic structure occur. Electron delocalization decreases, which is reflected in a narrowing, especially, of the d-valence electron... 

We begin our exploration of delocalized bonds with ozone, O3. As described in Chapter 7, ozone in the upper stratosphere protects plants and animals from hazardous ultraviolet radiation. Ozone has 18 valence electrons and a Lewis stmcture that appears in Figure 10-36a. Experimental measurements show that ozone is a bent molecule with a bond angle of 118°. 

All the atoms of butadiene lie in a plane defined by the s p hybrid orbitals. Each carbon atom has one remaining p orbital that points perpendicular to the plane, in perfect position for side-by-side overlap. Figure 10-42 shows that all four p orbitals interact to form four delocalized molecular orbitals two are bonding MOs and two are antibonding. The four remaining valence electrons fill the orbitals, leaving the two p orbitals empty. 

All these properties of metals are consistent with a bonding description that places the valence electrons in delocalized orbitals. This section describes the band theory of solids, an extension of the delocalized orbital ideas... 

As described in Section 10-, the bonding in solid metals comes from electrons in highly delocalized valence orbitals. There are so many such orbitals that they form energy bands, giving the valence electrons high mobility. Consequently, each metal atom can be viewed as a cation embedded in a sea of mobile valence electrons. The properties of metals can be explained on the basis of this picture. Section 10- describes the most obvious of these properties, electrical conductivity. 

When a metal changes shape, its atoms shift position. However, because the valence electrons are fully delocalized, the energy of these electrons is unaffected. 

A pure transition metal is best described by the band theory of solids, as introduced in Chapter 10. In this model, the valence s and d electrons form extended bands of orbitals that are delocalized over the entire network of metal atoms. These valence electrons are easily removed, so most elements In the d block react readily to form compounds oxides such as Fc2 O3, sulfides such as ZnS, and mineral salts such as zircon, ZrSi O4. ... 

In this way we come to class III complexes, i.e. complexes in which the two sites are indistinguishable and the element has a non-integral oxidation state (delocalized valence). Usually one divides this class in two subclasses. In class IIIA the delocalization of the valence electrons takes place within a cluster of equivalent metal ions only. An example is the [NbgCli2] ion in which there are six equivalent metal ions with oxidation state + 2.33. In class IIIB the delocalization is over the whole lattice. Examples are the linear chain compound K2Pt(CN)4.Bro.3o. 3H2O with a final oxidation state for platinum of 2.30, and three-dimensional bronzes like Na WOg. 

Resonance Molecules with two or more valid structures are said to be resonant. The actual structure is neither of the alternatives but a lower-energy molecule with delocalized valence electrons. Benzene with its alternating double and single bonds is an example of a resonant structure. Benzene actually has no single... 

In the thermodynamically redox-stable resting state, CcOs all Cu ions are in the Cu state and all hemes are Fe . From this state, CcOs can be reduced by one to four electrons. One-electron reduced CcOs are aerobically stable with the electron delocalized over the Cua and heme a sites. The more reduced forms—mixed-valence (two-electron reduced), three-electron reduced, and fully (four-electron) reduced—bind O2 rapidly and reduce it to the redox level of oxide (—2 oxidation state) within <200 p-s [Wikstrom, 2004 Michel, 1999]. This rate is up to 100 times faster than the average rate of electron transfer through the mammalian respiratory chain under normal... 

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