NH3 – Planar or Pyramidal ?
In this chapter we shall continue to refine our knowledge of how group theory can be applied to aid our understanding of bonding models, by considering the structures of BH3 and NH3. Can our MO descriptions rationalise why borane is planar while ammonia is pyramidal, in the same way that we rationalised the shapes of various EH2 species in theSection 7.4? The approach outlined inChapter 7 runs into a problem with EH3 species, because the terminal atoms, the three hydrogens, adopt a cyclic (triangular) arrangement about the central atom, rather than the linear one which described the two terminal atoms in EH2. Hence, we must first determine how to handle cyclic arrays of terminal atoms, and our vehicle for doing ...
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