Abstract
Qualitative molecular orbital theory is widely used as a conceptual tool to understand chemical bonding. Symmetry-allowed orbital mixing between atomic or fragment orbitais of different energies can greatly complicate such qualitative interpretations of chemical bonding. We use high-level Amsterdam Density Functional calculations to examine the issue of whether orbital mixing for some familiar second-row homonuclear and heteronuclear diatomic molecules results in net bonding or antibonding character for a given molecular orbital. Our results support the use of slopes of molecular orbital energy versus bond distance plots (designated radial orbital-energy slope: ROS) as the most useful criterion for making this determination. Calculated atomic charges and frontier orbital properties of these molecules allow their acid-base chemistry, including their reactivities as ligands in coordination chemistry, to be better understood within the context of the Klopman interpretation of hard and soft acid-base theory. Such an approach can be extended to any molecular species. © 2008 American Chemical Society.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2437-2446 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Physical Chemistry A |
Volume | 112 |
Issue number | 11 |
Early online date | 28 Feb 2008 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2008 |