Walsh Cyclopropane Molecular Orbitals

References

1. Pauling's "banana-bond" sp³-hybrid model may be found in L. Pauling, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1931, 53, 1367.

2. Walsh's original proposal:

   In this series of letters to Nature, Walsh proposed and defended his "coordination" model for oxirane and cyclopropane. These papers form an interesting series, in which one can see a scientific idea proposed, criticized, defended and modified, and finally supported from experiment.

   • A.D. Walsh, Nature 1947, 159, 165.
   • R. Robinson, Nature 1947, 159, 400.
   • C. A. McDowell, Nature 1947, 159, 508.
   • A.D. Walsh, Nature 1947, 159, 712-713. This paper explicitly discusses Walsh's cyclopropane MOs.
   • R. Robinson, Nature 1947, 160, 162.
   • J.W. Linnett, Nature 1947, 160, 162-163.

3. Walsh's full discussion of his cyclopropane model may be found in A.D. Walsh, Trans. Faraday Soc. 1949, 45, 179.

4. For a detailed discussion that shows that properly-derived bent-bond models are equivalent to Walsh's model but may be a better qualitative description, see W.A. Bernett, J. Chem. Ed. 1967, 44, 17-24.

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