Penn State researchers have uncovered a surprising twist in a foundational chemical reaction known as oxidative addition.

Speeding up chemical reactions is key to improving industrial processes or mitigating unwanted or harmful waste. Realizing ...

Despite this fivefold bonding interaction, the actual degree of bonding—the calculated bond order—is only 3.52 because of mixing in of antibonding character from molecular orbitals, he explains.

A team of Penn State researchers has found that a fundamental reaction in transition metal chemistry, called oxidative addition, can follow a different path to achieve the same ends.

Past research already suggested heavy alkaline earth metals like these might break the rule because their d orbitals are often involved in bonding, something usually limited to transition metals ...

“The ‘d’ orbitals in transition metals participate in chemical bonding in a very direct way, and they can organize into fairly predictable structures,” Wilson said.

The resonating-valence-bond theory of metals discussed in this paper differs from the older theory in making use of all nine stable outer orbitals of the transition metals, for occupancy by unshared ...

Transition metal silicides are promising for future developments in electronic devices, but fundamental aspects of the chemical bonding between their transition metal atoms and silicon remain ...