Question

When electromagnetic radiation is applied to CH3-OH, is there any possibility that the non bonding electrons of oxygen can jump to pi star bond? Or it can only jump to sigma star bond? What are the possibilities here?Or they don't form any bond ?

Answer 1

There is no possibility that the nonbonding electrons in methanol can jump to a π* orbital.

Explanation:

Methanol has no π bonds, so it has no `π^✳` orbitals. Thus, there can be no n → `π^✳` transitions.

Methanol has only σ bonds, so the only possible transitions are n→ `σ^✳` and σ → `σ^✳`.

The n → σ* absorption occurs at 183 nm, while the σ →`σ^✳` transitions are at even shorter wavelengths, in the "vacuum ultraviolet."