A Critical History of Hybrid Atomic Orbitals and Hybridization

Hybrid atomic orbitals have become a central component of organic chemistry. The history of these hybrids and hybridization as a process is discussed; this history is divided into a timeline from before 1931 to the present day. The confusion among various descriptions of ‘hybridization’, which has perplexed generations of chemists, is clarified. Based on a critical survey of the literature, including the latest experimental results and our results, we summarize the main points of using hybridization from the past and why hybridization should be eliminated from organic chemistry. Even though hybrid orbitals might have fulfilled a role as crude models in the twentieth century, we predict that they will not survive in this new century as more complicated models are required and applied.