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| Bond class | Category | Strength | Definition | How made | How broken | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ionic bond | Primary / lattice-forming | Strong | Electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions. | Forms when electron density is effectively transferred between atoms, creating cations and anions that attract each other, often in a crystal lattice. | Broken by enough energy to overcome electrostatic attraction, often through melting, vaporization, or dissolution in strongly interacting solvents. | NaCl; MgO; CaF2 |
| Covalent bond | Primary / intramolecular | Strong | Sharing of one or more pairs of electrons between atoms. | Forms when atomic orbitals overlap and electron sharing lowers the total energy of the system. | Broken by bond cleavage; homolytic cleavage splits electrons evenly, while heterolytic cleavage sends both electrons to one fragment. | H2; Cl2; CH4 |
| Polar covalent bond | Primary / covalent subtype | Strong | A covalent bond with unequal sharing of electron density, producing partial charges. | Forms like other covalent bonds, but between atoms with moderate electronegativity differences so the shared electrons are unevenly distributed. | Broken as a covalent bond, often with heterolytic cleavage favored because the bond is polarized. | H2O; HCl; carbonyl C=O |
| Coordinate covalent bond | Primary / donor-acceptor subtype | Strong to moderate | A covalent bond in which both shared electrons are donated by one atom or ligand. | Forms when a Lewis base donates a lone pair into an empty orbital on a Lewis acid or metal center. | Broken by ligand dissociation, competition, protonation, redox change, or enough thermal or photochemical energy. | NH4+; BF3·NH3; metal complexes |
| Metallic bond | Primary / extended solid-state | Moderate to strong | Attraction between metal nuclei or cations and delocalized valence electrons in a metal lattice. | Forms when many metal atoms aggregate and their valence electrons become delocalized across the solid. | Broken by disrupting the metallic lattice through melting, vaporization, fracture, or oxidation/corrosion. | Cu metal; Fe metal; brass |
| Hydrogen bond | Secondary / inter- or intramolecular | Weak to moderate | Attractive interaction between a hydrogen attached to an electronegative atom and another electron-rich atom or group. | Forms when a polarized X-H bond, often O-H, N-H, or F-H, aligns with a suitable acceptor atom having lone-pair or electron density. | Broken by thermal motion, dilution, solvent competition, protonation changes, or conformational disruption. | Water-water; DNA base pairing; protein secondary structure |
| Dipole-dipole interaction | Secondary / intermolecular | Weak | Attraction between permanent molecular dipoles. | Forms when polar molecules align so partially positive and partially negative regions attract. | Broken by heating, dilution, phase change, or molecular reorientation. | HCl-HCl; acetone-acetone |
| London dispersion force | Secondary / intermolecular | Weak | Attraction arising from instantaneous and induced dipoles in atoms or molecules. | Forms from temporary fluctuations in electron clouds that induce matching dipoles in nearby particles. | Broken easily by thermal motion or increasing distance between particles. | Ar···Ar; alkane chain interactions |
| van der Waals interaction | Secondary / umbrella term | Weak | A general term for weak, distance-dependent attractions between atoms or molecules. | Forms when particles approach closely enough for weak attractive interactions to outweigh repulsion at that separation. | Broken by slight heating, agitation, dilution, or separating the interacting species. | Molecular crystal packing; many-surface weak contacts |