A particular type of multicenter (three center - four electron) X–H ...Y in which
the central hydrogen atom covalently linked to an electronegative atom X
(
C,
N,
O,
S..)
forms an additional weaker bond with atom Y
(
N,
O,
S..)
in the direction of its lone electron pair orbital. The energy of hydrogen bonds,
which is usually in the range of
–
(
–
),
results from the electrostatic interaction and also from the orbital interaction of
the antibonding σ*(XH)
MO of the molecule acting as the hydrogen donor and the non-bonding lone electron pair
MOn
Y of the hydrogen acceptor molecule.
Source:
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by
A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997).
XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic,
J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
