How does the interaction of polar covalent bonds allow hydrogen bonds to form?

1 Answer
anor277
Aug 8, 2017

When hydrogen is bound to a ..........

Explanation:

When hydrogen is bound to a strongly electronegative element, i.e. #O, N, F#, charge separation occurs as the heteroatom polarizes electron density from the bond to acquire a partially negative charge. And of course if the charge is partially negative, there must be a partial positive charge developed on the hydrogen.

And thus a molecular dipole is generated, and in the bulk solution the dipoles line up to given an extra, potent intermolecular force that is known as #"hydrogen bonding"#.

For hydrogen fluoride, we could represent this interaction as #stackrel(delta+)H-stackrel(delta-)F# #cdotsstackrel(delta+)H-stackrel(delta-)Fcdotsstackrel(delta+)H-#

And see this [old answer.](https://socratic.org/questions/name-the-type-of-bond-shown-and-explain-how-it-is-formed)

And compare the boiling points of water, ammonia, and hydrogen fluoride with those of the lower group hydrides. The boiling points of these materials are absurdly high.

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