What Is a Molecular Orbital

A molecular orbital is an orbital or wave function of a molecules electron. The function may be used to calculate the probability of finding an electron within a specified space or to predict the molecules chemical and physical properties. Robert Mulliken introduced the term orbital in 1932 to describe a one-electron orbital wave function. Electrons around a molecule can be associated with more than one atom and are often expressed as a combination of atomic orbitals. Atomic orbitals within a molecule can interact if they have compatible symmetries. The number of molecular orbitals is equal to the number of atomic orbitals combined to form a molecule.