What is the Difference Between Antibonding and Nonbonding?
🆚 Go to Comparative Table 🆚The main difference between antibonding and nonbonding orbitals lies in their impact on a molecule's energy and stability. Here are the key differences between the two:
- Energy impact:
- Antibonding orbitals raise a molecule's energy, as they are molecular orbitals of electrons outside the area of two atomic nuclei.
- Nonbonding orbitals do not raise a molecule's energy, as they are molecular orbitals in which the addition or removal of electrons has little effect on the bond order between atoms.
- Stability:
- Antibonding orbitals appear to destabilize the molecule, as these electrons spend much of their time outside the area of two atomic nuclei.
- Nonbonding orbitals do not destabilize the molecule, as they function like a lone pair and have no impact on bond order.
- Electron density:
- Antibonding orbitals have electron density mostly outside the region between the nuclei, causing the nuclei to pull away from each other and increasing bond length.
- Nonbonding orbitals have electron density neither largest in the region between the nuclei nor mostly outside it, having no impact on bond order.
In summary, antibonding orbitals increase a molecule's energy and destabilize it, while nonbonding orbitals do not affect the molecule's energy or stability.
On this pageWhat is the Difference Between Antibonding and Nonbonding? Comparative Table: Antibonding vs Nonbonding
Comparative Table: Antibonding vs Nonbonding
The main difference between antibonding and nonbonding orbitals lies in their energy levels and their effects on the stability of a molecule. Here is a comparison between the two:
Antibonding Orbitals | Nonbonding Orbitals |
---|---|
Increase the energy of a molecule | Do not affect the stability of the molecule |
Have higher energy than atomic orbitals or bonding molecular orbitals formed from the same atomic orbitals | Have energy between antibonding and bonding orbitals |
Decrease the stability of a molecule | Stability of a molecule is not affected |
electrons in antibonding orbitals effectively cancel the stabilization resulting from electrons in bonding orbitals | electrons in nonbonding orbitals do not affect the stabilization resulting from electrons in bonding orbitals |
In summary, antibonding orbitals increase the energy of a molecule and decrease its stability, while nonbonding orbitals do not affect the stability of the molecule and have energy levels between antibonding and bonding orbitals.
Read more:
- Bonding vs Antibonding Molecular Orbitals
- Covalent vs Noncovalent Bonds
- Polar vs Nonpolar Covalent Bonds
- Ionic Bonding vs Metallic Bonding
- Ionic vs Covalent Bonds
- Electrovalent vs Covalent Bond
- Bonding vs Attachment
- Double Bond vs Single Bond
- Coordinate Covalent Bond vs Covalent Bond
- Hydrogen Bond vs Ionic Bond
- Bond Energy vs Bond Enthalpy
- Hydrogen Bond vs Covalent Bond
- Bond Energy vs Bond Dissociation Energy
- Bond Dipole vs Molecular Dipole
- Covalent Bond vs Dative Bond
- Bond Enthalpy vs Lattice Enthalpy
- Backbonding Hyperconjugation vs Conjugation
- Electrovalency vs Covalency
- Dipole Dipole Interactions vs Hydrogen Bonding