Bent's rule, which concerns orbital hybridisation of chemical bonds, was stated in 1961 by the American chemist Henry Bent ^*. Originally, it was expressed as follows:

• Atomic s character concentrates in orbitals directed toward electropositive subsituents

In other words, more understandable in terms of p-character of hybridized bonds:

• A central atom tends to direct hybrids of higher p character toward more electronegative substituents

^* H.A. Bent, Chem. Rev. 61 (1961), 275

Chemical bonding | Quantum chemistry