Question

Differentiate bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals

Answer 1

Dear student,

The molecular orbitals which are formed by the addition of atomic orbitals are called bonding molecular orbitals. The molecular orbitals which are formed by the subtraction of atomic orbitals are called antibonding molecular orbitals.

Electrons in a bonding orbital have lower energy levels than the average energy of valence electrons in the isolated atoms between which the orbital is formed. Anti bonding orbitals do not meet this criterion,

Anti bonding orbitals can be stable only in conjunction with bonding orbitals, whereas bonding orbitals can be formed without any accompanying antibonding orbitals.

Regards