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On the Role of d Orbital Hybridization in the Chemistry Curriculum

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John Morrison Galbraith

Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Physics, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601

J. Chem. Educ., 2007, 84 (5), p 783

DOI: 10.1021/ed084p783

Publication Date (Web): May 1, 2007

Section:

History, Education, and Documentation

Abstract

Modern valence bond theory has been used to enforce sp³d² hybridization in SF₆. Alternative bonding schemes with no d-orbital contribution are presented and yield lower total energies in agreement with previous studies discounting the role of sp³d² hybrid orbitals. Therefore, the use of d-orbital hybridization to describe hypervalent molecules should be removed from the general chemistry curriculum. Instead, bonding in SF₆ can serve as a good example of the role of theory in chemistry, nicely illustrating that no theory provides all the right answers all the time. More detailed valence bond and molecular orbital descriptions can be reserved for advanced courses. A more in depth look at SF₆ highlights the similarities between molecular orbital and valence bond theories and the importance of resonance mixing of covalent and ionic valence bond structures as well as fragment orbital mixing in order to make delocalized molecular orbitals.

Keywords (Audience):

First-Year Undergraduate / General

Keywords (Domain):

Inorganic Chemistry

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Misconceptions / Discrepant Events

Keywords (Subject):

Computational Chemistry

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This article has been cited by 3 ACS Journal articles (3 most recent appear below).

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  A rationale for the removal of the hybrid atomic orbital from the chemistry curriculum is examined. Although the hybrid atomic orbital model does not accurately predict spectroscopic energies, many chemical educators continue to use and teach the model ...
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Recoupled-Pair Bonding and 4-Electron 3-Center Bonding Units
Richard D. Harcourt
The Journal of Physical Chemistry A2011 Article ASAP
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  Richard D. Harcourt
  The Journal of Physical Chemistry A2011 Article ASAP
  Consideration is given to recoupled-pair bonding and the origin of electronic hypervalence for formulations of the bonding for symmetric 4-electron 3-center ((4e,3c)) bonding units with one overlapping atomic orbital per atomic center. Molecular orbital ...
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William F. Coleman
Journal of Chemical Education2010 87 (9), 999-1000
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  The structure and bonding in hypervalent iodine compounds are discussed in the 100th installment of JCE Featured Molecules. The molecules added to the JCE Featured Molecules collection this month are ICl, PhICl3, I3−, PhICl2, PhIO, PhI(OAc)2, the Dess−...
  Abstract | Full Text HTML | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links