Bonding molecular orbitals are more stable than both antibonding molecular orbitals and parent atomic orbital.

Therefore, electrons are first filled to bonding molecular orbitals and then to antibonding molecular orbitals.

Generally, electrons are first filled into lower energy levels.

Antibonding molecular orbitals possess high energy than that of parent atomic orbitals.

Bonding molecular orbitals have lower energy compared to the parent atomic orbital.

H2 1sσ* antibonding molecular orbital What is the difference between Bonding Molecular Orbitals and Antibonding Molecular Orbitals? ĮNERGY Antibonding molecular orbitals > ENERGY Bonding molecular orbitals Electrons are first filled to the bonding molecular orbitals and they stabilize the molecule since they associate less energy than the electron in the parent atom. Their energy is lower than the atomic orbitals. It increases the electron density between bonded atoms. What are Bonding Molecular Orbitals?īonding molecular orbitals are formed from atomic orbitals by in-phase combination of atomic orbitals.

Hund’s rule – When there are several Molecular Orbitals with equal energy, the electrons occupy the Molecular Orbitals one at a time before two occupy the same Molecular Orbital. Pauli exclusion principle– The maximum number of electrons (with opposite spins) that can occupy an orbital is two. The following key concepts are very important, to understand the difference between bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals.Īufbau principle – orbitals with the lowest energy are filled first. This energy level difference leads to other differences between two molecular orbitals.īonding and antibonding molecular orbitals are formed by linear combination atomic orbitals. The most significant difference between bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals is their energy levels compared to the parent atomic orbitals. The difference between bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals can be best explained using “ Molecular orbital theory.” These two types of molecular orbitals are formed when covalent chemical bonds are formed. The formation of the two molecular orbitals from two is orbitals is shown below.Bonding vs Antibonding Molecular Orbitals The formation of bonding molecular orbital can be considered as the result of constructive interference of the atomic orbitals and the formation of anti-bonding molecular orbital can be the result of the destructive interference of the atomic orbitals.

One is bonding molecular orbital `(ψ_'bonding')` and the other is antibonding molecular orbital `(ψ_'antibonding')` The wave functions for these two molecular orbitals can be obtained by the linear combination of the atomic orbitals ψ A and ψ B as below, Let us consider two atomic orbitals represented by the wave function ψ A and ψ B with comparable energy, combines to form two molecular orbitals. We know that the atomic orbitals are represented by the wave function ψ. The most common method is the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO). Since solving the Schrodinger equation is too complex, approximation methods are used to obtain the wave function for molecular orbitals. The wave functions for the molecular orbitals can be obtained by solving the Schrodinger wave equation for the molecule.

In phase combination of atomic orbitals