Unhybridized p orbital

[Andrew Wang 1C]

Do all double bonds involve unhybridized p orbitals? What other examples of the unhybridized p orbital should we need to know?

[bgiorgi_3A]

Yes, all double bonds involve unhybridized p orbitals. A pi bond is formed when two unhybridized p orbitals from a different atom overlap side by side which results in a shared electron pair which occupies the internuclear axis.

[David Chibukhchian 2G]

I was wondering this as well, because I wasn't sure if a double bond could involve unhybridized d-orbitals instead of p-orbitals. I'm still not entirely sure, but I don't believe there would be any situation in which this is the case. I think especially since we focus mostly on sp, sp2, and sp3 orbitals, we should just assume in general that a double bond is made between two unhybridized p-orbitals. However, I'm not 100% on this, because I don't know whether we should consider this possibility for the d-orbitals.