Molecular Orbital Theory for Diatomics: Bond Order and Magnetism
Inorganic Chemistry · Bonding Molecular Orbital Theory for Diatomics: Bond Order and Magnetism MO diagrams answer three questions at once — is the molecule stable, how strong is the bond, and is it paramagnetic. BSc & MSc · Inorganic Chemistry · Concept The short answer: Atomic orbitals combine to give bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals. Fill them by the aufbau principle, then bond order is half the difference between bonding and antibonding electrons. Unpaired electrons mean paramagnetism — which is where MO theory succeeds and valence bond theory fails. The core idea When two atomic orbitals of comparable energy and…