Shanxian Chemical

SUPPLEMENTS
  • Home
  • Hydrogen Bonds Key Concepts
  • Hydrogen Bonds Key Concepts

Hydrogen Bonds Key Concepts

On the hydrogen bond
between heaven and earth, everything is formed by the composition of micro-particles, among which the beauty of hydrogen bonds can be studied.

The hydrogen bond is not a strong ionic bond or a covalent bond, but its force should not be underestimated. Because hydrogen atoms covalently combine with atoms with large electronegativity and small radius (such as fluorine, oxygen, nitrogen, etc.), the only electron outside the hydrogen nucleus is biased towards the atom, causing hydrogen to be in a state of bare nucleus, so it is easy to attract each other with another nearby electronegativity atom. This attractive force is the force of hydrogen bonds.

Its formation also requires specific conditions. First, a hydrogen atom must be closely connected to an atom with a large electronegativity; second, there must be another atom with a large electronegativity and a lone pair of electrons close at hand. Both, then there is a hydrogen bond.

Looking at its characteristics, the energy of hydrogen bonding is stronger than that of van der Waals force, but weaker than that of chemical bonds. And hydrogen bonds have directionality and saturation. The so-called directionality is that hydrogen atoms tend to be arranged at a specific angle with donor and receptor atoms to achieve optimal energy; while saturated, hydrogen atoms can only form a limited number of hydrogen bonds, because there is only one electron that can participate in the bonding.

As for the effect of hydrogen bonds, it is particularly evident in the physical properties. Water, because of hydrogen bonds, the boiling point is different from the common sense, higher than all hydrides with similar structures. The hydrogen bonds between the molecules covering water are vertical and horizontal, and in order to vaporize them, many hydrogen bonds must be broken, and the energy must be very large. The density of ice is less than that of water, and it is also due to hydrogen bonds. Water molecules in ice are arranged in hydrogen bonds regularly, forming an empty tetrahedral structure, resulting in volume expansion and density reduction.

In the realm of life, hydrogen bonds are crucial. The secondary structure of proteins, alpha-helix and beta-fold, all rely on hydrogen bonds to maintain their shape. DNA double helix structure, bases are paired with hydrogen complementary bonds to ensure accurate transmission of genetic information. If hydrogen bonds can be disordered, the process of life may be chaotic.

From this perspective, although the hydrogen bond is small, it plays a pivotal role in the nature of matter and the fate of life. It is actually the subtlety of natural creation, and we need to study it in detail to see the mystery of nature.