Destructive Interference They interfere destructively when the overlapping orbitals are out of phase. Destructive interaction:The two 1s orbitals are out of phase. antibonding molecular orbita represented by: node o*antibonding MO The wavefunctions with opposite signs cancel each other out,resulting in a nodal plane between the atoms. This results in an antibonding MO,in this case a sigma antibonding MO,o*. Ch02 Structure and Properties (landscape) Page 8 Ch02 Structure and Properties (landscape) Page 8 Destructive Interference They interfere destructively when the overlapping orbitals are out of phase. The wavefunctions with opposite signs cancel each other out, resulting in a nodal plane between the atoms. This results in an antibonding MO, in this case a sigma antibonding MO, *