The third type of hybridisation commonly encountered in organic
chemistry is sp. By extrapolation, it is obvious that this
involves the use of one s orbital, and one p orbital. Let
us have a look at an sp hybridised carbon atom:
In this diagram, there are two unhybridised p orbitals,
and two sp orbitals. The sp orbitals are separated by and
angle of 180°, and the two p orbitals are perpendicular to each
other, and also to the line through the two sp orbitals. Note
also, that the sp orbitals do not extend as far out as the sp3
or sp2 orbitals. This we should expect, as there
is more s type character in the sp orbital than there is in an sp3
for example (a half in sp compared to a quarter in sp3
if you like). This means that the orbital is more spherical
in nature, and less of a dumbell shape like the p orbitals.
If we imagine two sp hybridised CH fragments, they
would look something like this:
From this diagram, we can see that one strong sp-sp
sigma bond will form in the line of the molecule (ethyne in this
case), and that two pi bonds will form around it (above and below,
and in front and behind):
This model fits well with observations such as ethyne
is linear, and again, there is no rotation about its axis.
This combination of two pi bonds and one sigma bond is called a
triple bond.
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