CHARACTERIZE THE TYPES OF ORBITAL’S AND ISOMERS

When the group of atoms that make up the molecules of different isomers are bonded together in fundamentally different ways, we refer to such compounds as constitutional isomers.

An orbital is a three dimensional description of the most likely location of an electron around an atom. Alternatively, atomic orbitals refer to functions that depend on the coordinates of one electron (i.e., orbitals) but are used as starting points for approximating wave functions that depend on the simultaneous coordinates of all the electrons in an atom or molecule. The coordinate systems chosen for atomic orbitals are usually spherical coordinates (r, θ, φ) in atoms and cartesians (x, y, z) in polyatomic molecules. The advantage of spherical coordinates (for atoms) is that an orbital wave function is a product of three factors each dependent on a single coordinate. There are typically three mathematical forms for the radial functions R(r) which can be chosen as a starting point for the calculation of the properties of atoms and molecules with many electrons:

·         The hydrogen-like atomic orbitals

·    The slater-type orbital (STO)

       

·         The form of the Gaussian type orbital

Isomers, is a molecule with the same chemical formula as another molecule, but with a different chemical structure. That is, isomers contain the same number of atoms of each element, but have different arrangements of their atoms. Isomers do not necessarily share similar properties, unless they also have the same functional groups. There are many different classes of isomers, like positional isomers, cis-trans isomers and enantiomers, etc. There are two main forms of isomerism: structural isomerism and stereoisomerism (spatial isomerism).