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Concept
Triplet oxygen
Summary
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| ImageFile = Triplet_dioxygen.png
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| IUPACName = Triplet oxygen
| SystematicName = Dioxidanediyl (substitutive)
dioxygen(2•)(triplet) (additive)
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Triplet oxygen, 3O2, refers to the S = 1 electronic ground state of molecular oxygen (dioxygen). Molecules of triplet oxygen contain two unpaired electrons, making triplet oxygen an unusual example of a stable and commonly encountered diradical: it is more stable as a triplet than a singlet. According to molecular orbital theory, the electron configuration of triplet oxygen has two electrons occupying two π molecular orbitals (MOs) of equal energy (that is, degenerate MOs). In accordance with Hund's rules, they remain unpaired and spin-parallel and account for the paramagnetism of molecular oxygen. These half-filled orbitals are antibonding in character, reducing the overall bond order of the molecule to 2 from a maximum value of 3 (e.g., dinitrogen), which occurs when these antibonding orbitals remain fully unoccupied. The molecular term symbol for triplet oxygen is 3Σ.
The s = spins of the two electrons in degenerate orbitals gives rise to 2 × 2 = 4 independent spin states in total. Exchange interaction splits these into a singlet state (total spin S = 0) and a set of 3 degenerate triplet states (S = 1). In agreement with Hund's rules, the triplet states are energetically more favorable, and correspond to the ground state of the molecule with a total electron spin of S = 1. Excitation to the S = 0 state results in much more reactive, metastable singlet oxygen.
Because the molecule in its ground state has a non-zero spin magnetic moment, oxygen is paramagnetic; i.e., it can be attracted to the poles of a magnet. Thus, the Lewis structure O=O with all electrons in pairs does not accurately represent the nature of the bonding in molecular oxygen.
Official source
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