Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T13:27:39.031Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Supramolecular bonding

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2009

Frank Weinhold
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Clark R. Landis
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Get access

Summary

An introductory overview of intermolecular forces

Molecular and supramolecular units

The firm establishment of John Dalton's atomic theory in the early nineteenth century ushered in a long period of preoccupation with the nature of molecules and the bond types responsible for molecule formation. By the mid twentieth century, a molecule was commonly defined in operational terms as “the smallest part of a chemical substance that can exist free in the gaseous state, with retention of the composition and chemical properties that are possessed by the gaseous material in bulk,” or in more theoretical terms as “an aggregate of atoms which is held together by relatively strong (valence) forces, and which therefore acts as a unit.”

Let us first seek to give a more rigorous and operational ab initio characterization of such “units.” The important physical idea underlying the above definitions is that of the connecting covalent bonds that link the nuclei. One can therefore recognize that a molecular unit is equivalently defined by the covalent-bond network that contiguously links the nuclei included in the unit. We can re-state the definition of a “molecular unit” in a way that emphasizes the electronic origin of molecular connectivity.

(D1) A molecular unit is an aggregate of atoms that is linked by a topologically connected network of covalent bonds; equivalently, an electronic distribution that links a collection of nuclei by a contiguous network of covalent bonds.

Type
Chapter
Information
Valency and Bonding
A Natural Bond Orbital Donor-Acceptor Perspective
, pp. 579 - 709
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×