What is pyramidal inversion?

1 Answer
Truong-Son N.
Sep 8, 2017

It's a quantum tunnelling effect you would see in #"NH"_3#, where the nitrogen nucleus shifts to invert the structure of the molecule.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/

This tunnelling is rapid in #"NH"_3# (#E_a = "24.2 kJ/mol"#), but slow in #"PH"_3# (#E_a = "132 kJ/mol"#), due to the relatively low potential energy barrier for ammonia.

https://www.azoquantum.com/

It passes through a planar transition state before it then inverts its trigonal pyramidal molecular geometry.

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