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Is there any concept of bonding and anti-bonding orbitals for ionic bonds, as there are in case of covalent bonds?
OR is it possible to break an ionic bond by pushing electrons into the antibonding orbitals?
I know that this question may sound stupid to some, but please excuse my ignorance.
Bonding and antibonding orbitals in a homonuclear diatomic molecule A-B should mix due to polarization to give rise to pair of atomic orbitals with delocalized tails for an ionic heteronuclear diatomic molecule. Now suppose A more electronegative and is the rightful anion and B the cation. The tailed atomic orbital of A is the bonding orbital(ie. A:- B°+) and the one belonging to B is the antibonding (ie. A°+ B:-). See original paper on Coulson Fischer theory.
