章节大纲

  • Learning Goals:  Differentiate between VB and MO approaches to describing bonding in molecules and know the relative strengths of each.  Know how to apply VB theory and VSEPR to describe common motifs in organic molecules involving H, C, N, O, S and halogen atoms.  Know that double and triple bonds in organic molecules involve one sigma and one or two pi bonds, and the effect that pi bonds have on restricting rotation around bonds.

    Readings:  Soderberg, sections on molecular orbital theory, and valence bond theory. 

    Notes:  The four pdf files below have notes that describe VBT, MO and the most important features of organic bonding and how to draw line structures, as also described in Soderberg chapter 1.  They were originally created as Pencasts using the Livescribe Echo pen, and because of this you may see an annotation saying that you need to use the latest version of Adobe Reader in order to hear the audio portion of the pencast.  You should ignore this message, because Adobe has discontinued support for Pencasts in its most recent versions, and so, unless you have a computer not updated since 2017, you will not be able to hear the audio portion.  However, the notes are likely still to be helpful supplements to the reading, even without the audio.