ABSTRACT
We can also describe the bonding between the atoms in terms of molecular orbitals. We have previously used this approach to analyze the bonding in carbon monoxide (Section B2). Indeed, the situation here is closely analogous to that of carbon monoxide, because the same number of electrons is involved: the CO and N2 molecules are said to be iso-electronic. We can construct a set of molecular orbitals just as we have previously. So, combinations of the 2s atomic orbitals form sigma bonding (s) and anti-bonding (s*) molecular orbitals. A 2p atomic orbital from each atom also combines to form s and s* molecular orbitals, while the other 2p atomic orbitals (two in each atom) form p and p* orbitals; this is shown in Figure 1.
