Bond Lengths in Inorganic Solids & Liquids Chapters uri icon

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abstract

  • Abstract The length of a chemical bond is determined by the number of valence electron pairs associated with it. In a simple electrostatic picture, this number is equal to the electrostatic flux linking the bonded atoms. The flux obeys a number of chemically useful theorems, and since it is independent of the ionic or covalent character of the bond, any bond can be transformed to the ionic limit where the flux can be calculated using Coulomb's law. Alternatively, by recognizing that a network of ionically bonded atoms is a capacitive electric circuit, the flux can be determined using the Kirchhoff equations. The correlation between the bond length and bond flux (or bond valence) allows the bond geometry to be predicted even for unknown compounds. A comparison of the observed bond lengths with those expected is useful in validating and analyzing an observed structure. Atomic radii can also be used to predict bond lengths in regular coordination spheres, but they are unable to predict the distortions from regularity typically found in low symmetry structures.

publication date

  • September 7, 2005