The phase and symmetry properties of atomic and molecular orbitals fundamentally determine overlap, nodal characteristics, and bonding interactions in quantum chemistry, making this concept foundational and well-established without requiring specific paper citations.
The claim refers to basic quantum chemistry principles (orbital phase and sign in bonding/antibonding interactions), which are foundational textbook knowledge. None of the retrieved papers specifically target or test this general definition as a novel empirical hypothesis to be proven or refuted; rather, they use quantum mechanical models where orbital properties are assumed. Therefore, the claim is classified as common knowledge.