Methylene (compound)

Methylene is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest carbene, a type of reactive organic compound where carbon has two chemical bonds and two non-bonded electrons.

The lowest energy form of methylene is the triplet radical state where the two electrons are in different molecular orbitals. However, the excited singlet state where the two electrons make a lone pair is very close in energy. This means that most methylene is a mixture of these two energy states. The two different forms of methylene have very different chemistry.

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Category:Carbenes