Chemical Bonding

Connecting atoms to form

molecules and materials
Chapter 12

Chemical bonding

Forming ions (gaining and losing electrons)

Ionic bonds
Covalent bonds (sharing electrons)
Lewis diagrams to explain and predict bonding
Polar bonds (unequal sharing of electrons)
Single bond, double bonds, even triple bonds!
Metallic bonding

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 Review: electronic structure
The noble gases, in the last group (or chemical
family) in the periodic table have the most stable
electronic configuration in each period
All the orbitals are filled, there are no extra valence
electrons in the electronic configuration

Cation: Positively-charged ion

Formed when a neutral atom loses an electron
Na Na+ + e

1s22s22p63s1 1s22s22p6

Anion: Negatively-charged ion

Formed when a neutral atom gains an electron

F + e F

1s22s22p5 1s22s22p6

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 O + 2 e O2

1s22s22p4 1s22s22p6
This is also the
electron
configuration of Ne

S + 2 e S2

1s22s22p63s23p4 1s22s22p63s23p6
This is the electron
configuration of Ar

Stable ions

The stable ion formed by adding electrons to or

removing electrons is isoelectronic with a noble gas
atom
There are several stable monatomic ions with noble-
gas electron configurations

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 Ionic crystals
Positively and negatively charged atoms can stick
together (electrostatic force) to form ionic crystals
Crystal: a solid with an infinitely repeating geometric structure

Sodium chloride
NaCl

Solid ionic compounds do not conduct

electrical current; the ions are locked
in place in the crystal

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When an ionic compound is melted, or dissolved in a solution,
the ions are free to move and to carry electric current

Covalent bonds: sharing electrons

Ionic bond: Each ion has its own noble gas electron
configuration
Covalent bond: Each atom has a noble gas electron
configuration but shares electron pair(s) to do so
H : H

H . + .H or
HH
The two atoms are bonded - they are more stable
together than they were separately

Bonding

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 Electron clouds of individual atoms
overlap to form covalent bonds

Blue region: area where electron(s) is most likely to be

found, area of highest charge density

Lewis structures
The valence electrons are drawn as pairs of dots and
single dots
The noble gas core electrons are not shown
Electron pairs are stable
2 electrons in a full orbital
But electrons dont pair until they have to
Try to emphasize the unpaired electrons that will do
chemistry

H N O Ne
one three two one
unpaired unpaired unpaired unpaired
electron electrons electrons electron

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 Lewis structures
In a covalent bond, both atoms end up with a full octet

H Cl H Cl
one one
unpaired unpaired H has 2 valence electrons (Ne)
electron electron Cl has 8 valence electrons (Ar)

H and Cl have the electron configurations of the neutral

atoms
H = 1s1, Cl = [Ne]3s23p5
The 2 shared electrons make a single covalent bond

More covalent bonding

.. .. .. .. .. ..
: F . + . F: : F : F : or : F F : or F F
.. .. .. .. .. ..
Different representations of the same F2 molecule
Unshared pairs in a Lewis diagram are called lone pairs

.. .. ..
H . + . O. + . H H : O : H or HOH
..
.. ..
Bonding in a water molecule
We only satisfy all the atoms if the oxygen is in the center

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 Molecular electronic structure
Where are the electrons in a molecule?
The orbitals for hydrogen (the probable locations for the
electron) can be worked out by solving the Schrdinger equation
(wave mechanics) - we can solve for 1 electron and 1 proton
It is also possible (although difficult) to solve the equation for the
H2+ ion - we can (just) solve for 2 protons and 1 electron
For anything larger there are no absolute solutions - we start
with a guess and approximate a final solution. The accuracy of
the final predicted electronic structure depends on how good the
initial guess was!

Predicted electron
distribution of water

Unequal sharing: electronegativity

Not all atoms are equally happy about sharing their electrons
Electronegativity: measure of the ability of an atom to attract and
keep bonding electrons

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 Bonding between atoms with
different electronegativities
Bonding electrons are shared unequally

More negative charge, more electron density, around

the fluorine atom
Fluorine is more electronegative than hydrogen
The result is a polar covalent bond

Electronegativity
Electronegativity values of common elements:

F > O > N = Cl > Br > C = I > H

The polarity of a bond can be estimated by

calculating the difference between the
electronegativity values for the bonded elements
C F bond (4.0 2.5 = 1.5)
C H bond (2.5 2.1 = 0.4)

The bonding electrons are displaced toward the

element with the highest electronegativity value

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 Covalent, polar and ionic bonds
There is a continuum of bonding from ionic (complete
transfer of an electron) to non-polar convalent
(complete sharing of an electron)

How to predict the connections

between atoms (bonding)
Lewis (dot) structures can be used to predict the way
that atoms in a molecule are connected
Octet Rule:
Covalent bonds tend to form between nonmetal atoms by
filling the valence orbitals with the maximum number of
electrons allowed, two in the s orbital and two in each of the
three p orbitals, for a total of eight (octa-) valence electrons
(noble gas electronic structure)
Arrange the atoms so that by sharing electrons
everyone achieves a noble gas electronic structure -
eight valence electrons

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 Example: methane CH4
.
One carbon .C . wants 4 electrons
.

Four hydrogens H. each want one electron

H. H.
H.

Methane
H
..
H . C .. H
.
..
H
More on this later!

Metallic bonds
Electrons in a metal are delocalized because they do
not say near any single atom or pair of atoms
Metallic Bond: Attractive force between positively-
charged metal ions in a crystal and the negatively-
charged electrons that move among them

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Electron-sea model of metallic bonding
Valence electrons are not associated with particular
atoms, but exist in a sea around all the atoms in the
metal

Group 1A/1 Group 2A/2

Metal Metal

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