Chemistry textbooks describe three types of chemical bonds - the strong attraction between atoms, ions or molecules that enables the formation of all chemical compounds.
Despite more than 150 years of research, however, there's still not a full picture of exactly how the outermost 'layers' of electrons within atoms form the bonds.
In addition, recent research has identified a prevously overlooked bond, which has been called the 'Metavalent' bond.
The chemical bond is one of the most powerful, yet controversial concepts in chemistry, explaining property trends in solids. Recently, a novel type of chemical bonding has been identified in several higher chalcogenides, characterized by a unique property portfolio, unconventional bond breaking and sharing of about one electron between adjacent atoms. Metavalent bonding is a fundamental type of bonding besides covalent, ionic and metallic bonding, raising the pertinent question, if there is a well-defined transition between metavalent and covalent bonding.
Source : arXiv:2008.10219 (cond-mat) (2020)
The discovery of the 'new' bond has highlighted the need for a more nuanced description of chemical bonds in general.
[…] we have provided evidence that metavalent bonding cannot be described by any combination of the three “textbook” mechanisms—it therefore constitutes a fourth fundamental bonding mechanism by accepted definitions. Our work opens up a conceptually new avenue for materials design: by searching for desired properties in a 3D space and then mapping this back onto the 2D plane of bonding, allowing scientists to navigate structural and composition spaces and to identify promising target materials.
Source : Advanced Materials Volume 31, Issue 3 1806280
Ideas for new topics, and suggested additions / corrections for old ones, are always welcome.
If you have skills or interests in a particular field, and have suggestions for Wikenigma, get in touch !
Or, if you'd like to become a regular contributor . . . request a login password. Registered users can edit the entire content of the site, and also create new pages.
( The 'Notes for contributors' section in the main menu has further information and guidelines etc.)