A Critical Look at Linus Pauling's Influence on the Understanding of Chemical Bonding.

Sudip Pan,Gernot Frenking

doi:10.3390/molecules26154695

Abstract

The influence of Linus Pauling on the understanding of chemical bonding is critically examined. Pauling deserves credit for presenting a connection between the quantum theoretical description of chemical bonding and Gilbert Lewis’s classical bonding model of localized electron pair bonds for a wide range of chemistry. Using the concept of resonance that he introduced, he was able to present a consistent description of chemical bonding for molecules, metals, and ionic crystals which was used by many chemists and subsequently found its way into chemistry textbooks. However, his one-sided restriction to the valence bond method and his rejection of the molecular orbital approach hindered further development of chemical bonding theory for a while and his close association of the heuristic Lewis binding model with the quantum chemical VB approach led to misleading ideas until today.

Highlights

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Using the concept of resonance that he introduced, he was able to present a consistent description of chemical bonding for molecules, metals, and ionic crystals which was used by many chemists and subsequently found its way into chemistry textbooks
It is hardly possible to adequately acknowledge Linus Pauling’s achievements in so many areas of science and humanity in a single issue of a journal, let alone in an article, even if one focuses on his epoch-making contributions to chemistry. After his death in 1994, four books with biographies had already been published [1,2,3,4,5] on the life and impact of the man who was the only one to date to receive the Nobel Prize twice undivided. His description of chemical bonding on a quantum theoretical basis in conjunction with the electron pair model of Gilbert Lewis can still be found in many publications today, in which the structures and bonding situations of molecules are presented in a way that goes back to the ideas and conceptions of Pauling

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Pauling deserves credit for presenting a connection between the quantum theoretical description of chemical bonding and Gilbert Lewis’s classical bonding model of localized electron pair bonds for a wide range of chemistry.

Results

Conclusion