On the determination of bond angles of triatomic radicals from electron spin resonance

The s and the p density of the sp hybrid orbital of the unpaired electron on the central nucleus of CO^?₂ and BF₂ are calculated as a function of the bond angle by the INDO molecular orbital method. The theory yields a dependence of the ratio of the p density to the s density on bond angle markedly different from a dependence derived from the orthogonality of sp hybrid orbitals and commonly used to determine the bond angle from ESR data.