Chemistry - CHEMICAL BONDING Question with Solution | TestHub

The number of nodal planes for ${\delta }_{\mathrm{d}}^{\ast }$ is 3. This is the maximum among the given options.

Concepts:

Nodal planes in molecular orbitals.

$\sigma$ orbitals have 0 nodal planes along the internuclear axis.

$\pi$ orbitals have 1 nodal plane along the internuclear axis.

$\delta$ orbitals have 2 nodal planes along the internuclear axis.

An antibonding orbital (${\sigma }^{\ast }$, ${\pi }^{\ast }$, ${\delta }^{\ast }$) has an additional nodal plane perpendicular to the internuclear axis.

For ${\sigma }_s$: 0 nodal planes (0 axial + 0 perpendicular)

For ${\sigma }_p$: 0 nodal planes (0 axial + 0 perpendicular)

For ${\pi }_p$: 1 nodal plane (1 axial + 0 perpendicular)

For ${\delta }_{\mathrm{d}}^{\ast }$: 3 nodal planes (2 axial + 1 perpendicular)

Therefore, ${\delta }_{\mathrm{d}}^{\ast }$ has the maximum number of nodal planes.