Bent's rule

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Bent's rule, which concerns orbital hybridisation of chemical bonds, was stated in 1961 by the American chemist Henry Bent.[1] Originally, it was expressed as follows:

  • Atomic s character concentrates in orbitals directed toward electropositive substituents

In other words, more understandable in terms of p-character of hybridised bonds:

  • A central atom tends to direct hybrids of higher p character toward more electronegative substituents

[edit] References

  1. ^ H.A. Bent (1961). "An Appraisal of Valence-bond Structures and Hybridization in Compounds of the First-row elements". Chem. Rev. 61: 275–311. doi:10.1021/cr60211a005.