In
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
, HOMO and LUMO are types of
molecular orbital
In chemistry, a molecular orbital is a mathematical function describing the location and wave-like behavior of an electron in a molecule. This function can be used to calculate chemical and physical properties such as the probability of finding ...
s. The acronyms stand for ''highest occupied molecular orbital'' and ''lowest unoccupied molecular orbital'', respectively. HOMO and LUMO are sometimes collectively called the ''frontier orbitals'', such as in the
frontier molecular orbital theory.
Gap
The energy difference between the HOMO and LUMO is ''the HOMO–LUMO gap''. Its size can be used to predict the strength and stability of
transition metal
In chemistry, a transition metal (or transition element) is a chemical element in the d-block of the periodic table (groups 3 to 12), though the elements of group 12 (and less often group 3) are sometimes excluded. They are the elements that can ...
complexes, as well as the colors they produce in solution.
[Griffith, J. S. and L. E. Orgel]
"Ligand Field Theory"
''Q. Rev. Chem. Soc.'' 1957, 11, 381–383. As a rule of thumb, the larger a compound's HOMO-LUMO gap, the more stable the compound.
Semiconductors
The HOMO level is to
organic semiconductors roughly what the maximum
valence band is to inorganic
semiconductors
A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...
and
quantum dot
Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor particles a few nanometres in size, having light, optical and electronics, electronic properties that differ from those of larger particles as a result of quantum mechanics. They are a central topic in nanote ...
s. The same analogy can be made between the LUMO level and the
conduction band
In solid-state physics, the valence band and conduction band are the bands closest to the Fermi level, and thus determine the electrical conductivity of the solid. In nonmetals, the valence band is the highest range of electron energies in w ...
minimum.
[Bredas, J,-L]
"Mind the gap!"
''Mater. Horiz.'' 2014, 1, 17–19.
Organometallic chemistry
In organometallic chemistry, the size of the LUMO lobe can help predict where
addition to pi ligands
Addition (usually signified by the plus symbol ) is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the other three being subtraction, multiplication and division. The addition of two whole numbers results in the total amount or '' sum'' of t ...
will occur.
SOMO
A ''SOMO'' is a ''singly occupied molecular orbital'' such as half-filled HOMO of a
radical
Radical may refer to:
Politics and ideology Politics
*Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change
*Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...
. This abbreviation may also be extended to ''semi occupied molecular orbital''.
Subadjacent orbitals: NHOMO and SLUMO
If existent, the molecular orbitals at one energy level below the HOMO and one energy level above the LUMO are also found to play a role in frontier molecular orbital theory. They are named ''NHOMO'' for ''next-to-highest occupied molecular orbital'' and ''SLUMO'' for ''second lowest unoccupied molecular orbital''. These are also commonly referred to as HOMO−1 and LUMO+1 respectively.
See also
*
Diels–Alder reaction
In organic chemistry, the Diels–Alder reaction is a chemical reaction between a conjugated diene and a substituted alkene, commonly termed the dienophile, to form a substituted cyclohexene derivative. It is the prototypical example of a peric ...
*
Electron configuration
In atomic physics and quantum chemistry, the electron configuration is the distribution of electrons of an atom or molecule (or other physical structure) in atomic or molecular orbitals. For example, the electron configuration of the neon atom ...
*
Klopman-Salem equation In the theory of chemical reactivity, the Klopman-Salem equation describes the energetic change that occurs when two species approach each other in the course of a reaction and begin to interact, as their associated molecular orbitals begin to overl ...
*
Koopmans' theorem
Koopmans' theorem states that in closed-shell Hartree–Fock theory (HF), the first ionization energy of a molecular system is equal to the negative of the orbital energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO). This theorem is named afte ...
*
Ligand
In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule (functional group) that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding with the metal generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's electr ...
*
Organic semiconductor
*
Woodward–Hoffmann rules
References
Further reading
*
External links
OrbiMolMolecular orbital database
Quantum chemistry
{{quantum-chemistry-stub