Hybrid Orbitals, Symmetry Orbitals And Molecular Orbitals

The description of the items of this chapter presupposes the people familiarity with the concept of “atomic orbitals” which are the components of the various orbital terms appearing in the caption. The first phase of the chapter discusses a symmetry treatment of the hybrid orbitals. Hybrid orbitals are just an artificial concept aimed at helping our qualitative understanding of the stereodisposition and the directional nature of the chemical bonds in a molecule. The utility of the construction of hybrids is in the formation of valence bond orbitals or of localised molecular orbitals through overlaps with other atomic orbitals of the constituent atoms of the molecule. Sigma bonds and electrons in the sigma bonds constitute just a framework without any participation in such properties.