2.01 | Ammonia as Archetypical Example

Wednesday April 6th 2022 | In this lecture we will look at the first of the organometallic ligands; Amines. By evaluating the molecular orbitals of ammonia a good understanding of the molecular properties can be obtained. We will construct the molecular orbital diagram of ammonia, by first finding the symmetry adapted linear combinations of the three hydrogen atoms via their reducible and irreducible representation. We will demonstrate how the character table can be used to establish these SALCs and how eventually the molecular orbital diagram can be established. By looking at the individual orbitals and in particular the Highest Occupied Molecular Orbitals (HOMO) and Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital (LUMO), we can understand their reactivity and how it differs with those of the related phosphines.

The video to the lecture can be found below: