Hybridisation is the concept of mixing atomic orbitals to form new hybrid orbitals suitable for the qualitative description of atomic bonding properties.
Questions tagged [hybridization]
370 questions
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What is Bent's rule?
I'm all bent out of shape trying to figure out what Bent's rule means. I have several formulations of it, and the most common formulation is also the hardest to understand.
Atomic s character concentrates in orbitals directed toward…
Dissenter
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Why is it wrong to use the concept of hybridization for transition metal complexes?
I have asked a lot of questions on coordination chemistry here before and I have gone through a lot others here as well. Students, including me, attempt to answer those questions using the concept of hybridization because that's what we are taught…
Arishta
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Why does F replace the axial bond in PCl5?
Why does $\ce{F}$ replace an axial bond in $\ce{PCl5}$? I realize that it would be more stable there than at equatorial bond, but what is the reason of its stability? Similarly in $\ce{AB4}$ type of molecules with $\ce{sp^3d}$ hybridization (4 bond…
Shubham
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Why do compounds like SF6 and SF4 exist but SH6 and SH4 don't?
Both $\ce{SF6}$ and $\ce{SH6}$ and $\ce{SF4}$ and $\ce{SH4}$ have the same central atom and the same hybridization, but my teacher specifically mentioned that $\ce{SH6}$ and $\ce{SH4}$ don't exist. I've looked everywhere but I can't figure out why?…
sayantankhan
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How do I figure out the hybridization of a particular atom in a molecule?
I'm learning how to apply the VSEPR theory to Lewis structures and in my homework, I'm being asked to provide the hybridization of the central atom in each Lewis structure I've drawn.
I've drawn out the Lewis structure for all the required compounds…
Melanie Shebel
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What makes banana bonds possible in diborane?
Diborane has the interesting property of having two 3-centered bonds that are each held together by only 2 electrons (see the diagram below, from Wikipedia). These are known as "banana bonds."
I'm assuming there is some sort of bond hybridization…
jonsca
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Why does bond angle decrease in the order H2O, H2S, H2Se?
I know that bond angle decreases in the order $\ce{H2O}$, $\ce{H2S}$ and $\ce{H2Se}$. I wish to know the reason for this. I think this is because of the lone pair repulsion but how?
Yomal Amarathunge
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Are the lone pairs in water equivalent?
I've read that the oxygen atom in water is $\mathrm{sp^2}$ hybridized, such that one of the oxygen lone pairs should be in an $\mathrm{sp^2}$ orbital and the other should be in a pure p atomic orbital.
First, am I correct about the lone pairs being…
jheindel
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Carbon atoms at the edge of a diamond
It is well known (the simplest textbook example) that a diamond has a well-defined arrangement of sp3 carbon atoms, as each atom is connected to four others in a tetrahedral structure.
But what about the last carbon atoms at the edge? For each of…
jimyy
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What is Drago's rule? Does it really exist?
My textbooks states the Drago's rule in inorganic chemistry as follows:
The more electronegative atom prefers the orbital having more $\mathrm{p}$ character, and lone-pairs or less electronegative elements prefer such orbitals, as have more s…
user37316
31
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d-orbital splittings in WS2 monolayer
The formerly degenerate $d$ orbitals of the tungsten atoms in the $\ce{WS2}$ monolayer are split into three groups: (1) $\mathrm{d}_{z^2}$, (2) $\mathrm{d}_{x^2-y^2}, \mathrm{d}_{xy}$ and (3) $\mathrm{d}_{xz}, \mathrm{d}_{yz}$ in the order of…
Capo Pavel Mestre
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Sp5 hybridization in cyclopropane?
I have never before heard/read about something as a $sp^5$ hybridization. Today, Henry Rzepa's blog post made me aware of the existance of such a bonding system. That made me search a little bit and I found an entry in a german chemistry forum,…
pH13 - Yet another Philipp
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Are the bonding orbitals in methane equivalent - photoelectron spectrum
The low energy portion (the part dealing with the $\ce{2s}$ and $\ce{2p}$ electrons) of the photoelectron (PE) spectrum of methane is reproduced below.
(image source)
The reaction being examined is the following one-photon process
$$\ce{CH4 +…
ron
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Is hybridization used in ab initio valence bond calculation?
Many general chemistry textbooks introduced the concept "hybridization" to construct a symmetry-adapted VB-type wavefunction. In the textbooks, usually the minimal basis is used and without optimizing all resonance forms.
My question is, in the ab…
user26143
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How to rationalise the resonance structures and hybridisation of the nitrogen in a conjugated amine?
I was given the first structure, and then drew the other 5 resonance structures:
First of all, are they correct? ChemBioDraw had some complaints, but as far as I can see there's the same number of electrons, and no valence orbitals exceeding…
Brian
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