H Y B R I D I Z AT I O N - THE BLENDING

OF ORBITALS

+ =

Poodle + Cocker Spaniel = Cockapoo

+
=

s orbital + p orbital = sp orbital

 What Proof Exists for Hybridization?
Lets look at a molecule of methane, CH4.
Methane is a simple natural gas. Its molecule has a
carbon atom at the center with four hydrogen atoms
covalently bonded around it.
What is the electronic configuration of carbon in its ground
state?

Can you see a problem with this?

(Hint: How many unpaired electrons does this
carbon atom have available for bonding?)
 Carbon’s Bonding Problem

You should conclude that carbon has only TWO electrons available for
bonding. That is not enough.

What is taking place in order that carbon may form four bonds?
 Carbon’s Empty Orbital

The first thought that chemists had was

that carbon promotes one of its 2s
electrons…

…to the empty 2p orbital.

However, they quickly recognized a problem with such
an arrangement…

Three of the carbon-hydrogen bonds would involve

an electron pair in which the carbon electron was a 2p,
matched with the lone 1s electron from a hydrogen atom.
This would mean that three of the bonds in a
methane molecule would be identical, because
they would involve electron pairs of equal energy.

But what about the fourth bond…?

The fourth bond is between a 2s electron from the
carbon and the lone 1s hydrogen electron.

Such a bond would have slightly less energy than the

other bonds in a methane molecule.
This bond would be slightly different in character
than the other three bonds in methane.

This difference would be measurable to a chemist by

determining the bond length and bond energy.

But is this what they observe?

The simple answer is, “No”.

Measurements show that all four bonds in

methane are equal. Thus, we need a new
explanation for the bonding in methane.

Chemists have proposed an explanation

– they call it Hybridization.

Hybridization is the combining of two or more orbitals of nearly equal energy

within the same atom into orbitals of equal energy.
In the case of methane, they call the hybridization sp3, meaning that an s
orbital is combined with three p orbitals to create four equal hybrid orbitals.

sp3 sp3 sp3 sp3

1s

These new orbitals have slightly MORE energy than the 2s orbital…

… and slightly LESS energy than the 2p orbitals.

 HYBRIDISATION

Hybridisation can be defined as the process of intermixing of

the orbitals of slightly different energies so as to redistribute
their energies, resulting in the formation of new set of orbitals
of equivalent energies and shape.
 SALIENT FEATURES OF HYBRIDISATION
• The number of hybrid orbitals is equal to the number of the atomic
orbitals that get hybridised.
• The hybridised orbitals are always equivalent in energy and shape.
• The hybrid orbitals are more effective in forming stable bonds than
the pure atomic orbitals.
• These hybrid orbitals are directed in space in some preferred direction
to have minimum repulsion between electron pairs and thus a stable
arrangement.
IMPORTANT CONDITIONS FOR
HYBRIDISATION
• The orbitals present in the valence shell of the atom are hybridised.
• The orbitals undergoing hybridisation should have almost equal
energy.
• Promotion of electron is not essential condition prior to hybridisation.
• It is not necessary that only half filled orbitals participate in
hybridisation. In some cases, even filled orbitals of valence shell take
part in hybridisation.
 Types of
Hybridisation
HYBRIDISATIO ORBITALS USED GEOMETRY BOND EXAMPLES
N ANGLES
sp 1s + 1 p → 2sp hybrid orbitals Linear 180° beryllium chloride,
acetylene

sp2 1s + 2p:→ 3 sp2 hybrid Trigonal Planar 120° boron trichloride,

orbitals ethylene

sp3 1s + 3p → 4 sp3 hybrid Tetrahedral 109.5° methane, ethane,H2O,

orbitals NH3

sp3d 1s+ 3p +1d→ 5 sp3d hybrid Trigonal bipyramidal 90°,120° phosphorus

orbitals pentachloride

sp3d2 1s+ 3p,+2d → 6 sp3d2 hybrid Octahedral 90° sulphur hexafluoride

orbitals

sp3d3 1s+3p+ 3d → 7sp3d3 hybrid Pentagonal bipyramidal 72° ,90° iodine heptafluoride
orbitals
  
What is sp hybridization?
• Intermixing of one 's' and one 'p' orbitals of almost equal energy to give two identical
and degenerate hybrid orbitals is called 'sp' hybridization. 
• These sp-hybrid orbitals are arranged linearly at by making 180o of angle. 
• They possess 50% 's' and 50% 'p' character.
• This produces two hybrid orbitals, while leaving two normal p orbitals unchanged.
Examples of sp Hybridization:
• All compounds of beryllium like BeF2,
BeH2, BeCl2
• All compounds of carbon-containing 
triple Bond like C2H2.
 Beryllium Chloride (BeCl2)
• The electronic configuration of 'Be' in ground state is 1s2 2s2.
• Since there are no unpaired electrons, it undergoes excitation by promoting
one of its 2s electron into empty 2p orbital. 
• Thus in the excited state, the electronic configuration of Be is 1s2 2s1 2p1.
• In the excited state, the beryllium atom undergoes 'sp' hybridization by
mixing a 2s and one 2p orbitals.
• Thus two half filled 'sp' hybrid orbitals are formed, which are arranged
linearly. 

excitation
     
• * Each Chlorine atom, 1s22s22p63s23p5 , has one unshared electron in a
p orbital. The half filled p orbital overlaps head-on with a half filled
hybrid sp orbital of the beryllium to form a sigma bond
* Thus BeCl2 is linear in shape with the bond angle of 180o.
 What is sp2 hybridization?
• Intermixing of one 's' and two 'p' orbitals of almost equal energy to give three identical and degenerate
hybrid orbitals is known as sp2 hybridization. 
• The three sp2 hybrid orbitals are oriented in trigonal planar symmetry at angles of 120o to each other. 
• The sp2 hybrid orbitals have 33.3% 's' character and 66.6% 'p' character.
• One p orbital remains unchanged.

Examples of sp2 Hybridization
• All the compounds of Boron i.e. BF3, BH3
• All the compounds of carbon containing a
• carbon-carbon double bond, Ethylene (C2H4).

           
  Boron trichloride (BCl3)
• The electronic configuration of 'B' in ground state is 1s2 2s2 2p1 with only one unpaired electro
Since the formation of three bonds with chlorine atoms require three unpaired electrons, there is
excitation of one of 2s electron into the 2p sublevel by absorbing energy.
• Thus Boron atom gets electronic configuration: 1s2 2s2 2px12py1. 
• In the excited state, Boron undergoes sp2 hybridization by using a 2s and two 2p orbitals to give
three half filled sp2 hybrid orbitals which are oriented in trigonal planar symmetry. 

excitation
• Each chlorine atom, 1s22s22p63s23p5, has one unshared electron in a p orbital.
• The half filled p orbital overlaps head-on with a half filled hybrid sp2 orbital of the
boron to form a sigma bond.
• Thus the shape of BCl3 is trigonal planar with bond angles equal to 120o.
 What is sp3 hybridization?

• In sp3 hybridization, one 's' and three 'p' orbitals of almost equal energy intermix to give four identical and
degenerate hybrid orbitals. 

• These four sp3 hybrid orbitals are oriented in tetrahedral symmetry with 109o28' angle with each other. 

• The sp3 hybrid orbitals have 25% ‘s’ character  and 75% 'p' character.
 
• Example of sp3 hybridization: ethane (C2H6), methane, H2O,NH3

           
 Methane (CH4)
• During the formation of methane molecule, the carbon atom undergoes sp3 hybridization in
the excited state by mixing one ‘2s’ and three 2p orbitals to furnish four half filled sp3 hybrid
orbitals, which are oriented in tetrahedral symmetry in space around the carbon atom. 

EXCITED
• Each hydrogen atom, 1s1, has one unshared electron in an s orbital.
• Each of the four sp3 hybrid orbitals of carbon overlaps head-on with the half filled s orbital of
each hydrogen and forms a sigma bond.
• Thus carbon forms four σ bonds with four hydrogen atoms. 
* Methane molecule is tetrahedral in shape with 109o28' bond angle.
Hybridization of N in NH3

Valence e’s
Atomic N: 1s2 2s2 2p3
 FORMATION OF NH3:
Each hydrogen atom, 1s1, has one unshared
electron in an s orbital. The half filled s orbital
overlaps head-on with a half full hybrid sp3 orbital
of the nitrogen to form a sigma bond.
Hybridization of P in PF5 P: 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p3

EXCITE
D
 FORMATION OF PF5:
Each fluorine atom, 1s22s22p5, has one unshared
electron in a p orbital. The half filled p orbital
overlaps head-on with a half full hybrid sp3d orbital of
the phosphorus to form a sigma bond.
Hybridization of S in SF6 S: 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p4

Excited
 FORMATION OF SF6:
Each fluorine atom, 1s22s22p5, has one unshared
electron in a p orbital. The half filled p orbital
overlaps head-on with a half full hybrid sp3d2 orbital
of the phosphorus to form a sigma bond.
• ETHYLENE (C2H4)
• During the formation of ethylene molecule, each carbon atom undergoes
sp2 hybridization in its excited state by mixing 2s and two 2p orbitals to give
three half filled sp2 hybrid orbitals oriented in trigonal planar symmetry. 
• There is also one half filled unhybridized 2pz orbital on each carbon perpedicular
to the plane of sp2 hybrid orbitals. 
•  The carbon atoms form a 2 σ bond with each other by using sp2 hybrid orbitals. 
• A πp-p bond is also formed between them due to lateral overlapping of unhybridized
2pz orbitals. 
• Thus there is a double bond (σsp2 &  πp-p) between two carbon atoms. 
• Each carbon atom also forms two σsp2-s bonds with two hydrogen atoms. 
• Thus ethylene molecule is planar with ∠HCH & ∠HCC bond angles equal to 120o. 
• All the atoms are present in one plane.
• ACETYLENE (C2H2)
• * The ground state electronic configuration of 'C' is 1s2 2s2 2px12py1. There are only
two unpaired electrons in the ground state. However, the valency of carbon is four
i.e., it forms 4 bonds. In order to form four bonds, there must be four unpaired
electrons. Hence carbon promotes one of its 2s electron into the empty 2pz orbital in
the excited state.
• Thus in the excited state, the electronic configuration  of carbon is
1s2 2s1 2px12py12pz1. 
•  Each carbon atom undergoes 'sp' hybridization by using a 2s and one 2p orbitals in
the excited state to give two half filled 'sp' orbitals, which are arranged linearly. 
• The two carbon atoms form a σsp-sp bond with each other by using sp-orbitals. 
• However there are also two unhybridized p orbitals i.e., 2py and 2pz on each carbon
atom which are perpendicular to the sp hybrid orbitals. These orbitals form two πp-
p bonds between the two carbon atoms. 

• Thus a triple bond (including one σsp-sp bond & two πp-p bonds ) is formed between
carbon atoms. 
• Each carbon also forms a σsp-s bond with the hydrogen atom. 
• Thus acetylene molecule is linear with 180o of bond angle.