2.3D: MO Applied to \(F_2\) and \(O_2\)

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Molecular orbitals (MO) are constructed from atomic orbitals. In O₂ and F₂, there is a crossover of the sigma and the pi ortbials: the relative energies of the sigma orbitals drop below that of the pi orbitals'. Information from the MO diagram justify O2's stability and show that it's bonding order is 2. The LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) and HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital) of difluoride's MO diagram help explain why the molecule is very stable - the diagram also tells us that the bond order is 1.

Contributors and Attributions

Dieu Huynh