Illustrated Glossary of Organic Chemistry
Orbital
electronegativity
:
As the
s
character of a
hybrid orbital
increases, so does the apparent
electronegativity
of the atom which hosts this
hybrid orbital
.
Methane
Carbon is
sp
3
(25%
s
character)
p
K
a
~ 50
Ethylene
Carbon is
sp
2
(33%
s
character)
p
K
a
= 40
Acetylene
Carbon is
sp
(50%
s
character)
p
K
a
= 25
Acidity
of an X-H
bond
increases as the
electronegativity
of X increases. The
p
K
a
trend in
methane
,
ethylene
, and
acetylene
is explained by
orbital
electronegativity
.
Related terms:
Atomic orbital
,
s
orbital
,
p
orbital
,
p
x
orbital
,
p
y
orbital
,
p
z
orbital
,
molecular orbital
,
bonding molecular orbital
,
antibonding molecular orbital
,
nonbonding molecular orbital
,
sigma orbital
,
σ orbital
,
sigma* orbital
,
σ* orbital
,
pi orbital
,
π orbital
,
pi* orbital
,
π* orbital
,
HOMO
,
LUMO
,
SOMO
Wikipedia entry
(orbital) and
Wikipedia entry
(electronegativity)
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