Covalent bonds electron distribution

Molecular mechanics force fields rest on four fundamental principles. The first principle is derived from the Bom-Oppenheimer approximation. Electrons have much lower mass than nuclei and move at much greater velocity. The velocity is sufficiently different that the nuclei can be considered stationary on a relative scale. In effect, the electronic and nuclear motions are uncoupled, and they can be treated separately. Unlike quantum mechanics, which is involved in determining the probability of electron distribution, molecular mechanics focuses instead on the location of the nuclei. Based on both theory and experiment, a set of equations are used to account for the electronic-nuclear attraction, nuclear-nuclear repulsion, and covalent bonding. Electrons are not directly taken into account, but they are considered indirectly or implicitly through the use of potential energy equations. This approach creates a mathematical model of molecular structures which is intuitively clear and readily available for fast computations. The set of equations and constants is defined as the force... 

Another fundamental property of chemical bonds is polarity. In general, it is to be expected that the distribution of the pair of electrons in a covalent bond will favor one of the two atoms. The tendency of an atom to attract electrons is called electronegativity. There are a number of different approaches to assigning electronegativity, and most are numerically scaled to a definition originally proposed by Pauling. Part A of Table 1.6... 

The unequal distribution of electron density in covalent bonds produces a bond dipole, the magnitude of which is expressed by the dipole moment, having the units of charge times distance. Bonds with significant bond dipoles are described as being polar. The bond and group dipole moments of some typical substituents are shown in Table 1.7. 

In the perfect lattice the dominant feature of the electron distribution is the formation of the covalent, directional bond between Ti atoms produced by the electrons associated with d-orbitals. The concentration of charge between adjacent A1 atoms corresponds to p and py electrons, but these electrons are spatially more dispersed than the d-electrons between titanium atoms. Significantly, there is no indication of a localized charge build-up between adjacent Ti and A1 atoms (Fu and Yoo 1990 Woodward, et al. 1991 Song, et al. 1994). The charge densities in (110) planes are shown in Fig. 7a and b for the structures relaxed using the Finnis-Sinclair type potentials and the full-potential LMTO method, respectively. 

We saw in the last chapter how covalent bonds between atoms are described, and we looked at the valence bond model, which uses hybrid orbitals to account for the observed shapes of organic molecules. Before going on to a systematic study of organic chemistry, however, we still need to review a few fundamental topics. In particular, we need to look more closely at how electrons are distributed in covalent bonds and at some of the consequences that arise when the electrons in a bond are not shared equally between atoms. 

Polar covalent bond (Section 2.1) A covalent bond in which the electron distribution between atoms is unsymmetrical. 

We see again that there is but one principle which causes a chemical bond between two atoms all chemical bonds form because electrons are placed simultaneously near two positive nuclei. The term covalent bond indicates that the most stable distribution of the electrons (as far as energy is concerned) is symmetrical between the two atoms. When the bonding electrons are somewhat closer to one of the atoms than the other, the bond is said to have ionic character. The term ionic bond indicates the electrons are displaced so much toward one atom that it is a good approximation to represent the bonded... 

In Section 2.12, we saw that a polar covalent bond in which electrons are not evenly distributed has a nonzero dipole moment. A polar molecule is a molecule with a nonzero dipole moment. All diatomic molecules are polar if their bonds are polar. An HC1 molecule, with its polar covalent bond (8+H—Clfi ), is a polar molecule. Its dipole moment of 1.1 D is typical of polar diatomic molecules (Table 3.1). All diatomic molecules that are composed of atoms of different elements are at least slightly polar. A nonpolar molecule is a molecule that has no electric dipole moment. All homonuclear diatomic molecules, diatomic molecules containing atoms of only one element, such as 02, N2, and Cl2, are nonpolar, because their bonds are nonpolar. 

This implies that Br2 is the electrophile. But how does Br2 function as an electrophile The bond between the two bromine atoms is a covalent bond, and we therefore expect the electron density to be equally distributed over both Br atoms. However, an interesting thing happens when a Br2 molecule approaches an alkene. The electron density of the pi bond repels the electron density in the Br2 molecule, creating a temporary dipole moment in Br2. 

An actual molecule is d Tiamic, not static. Electrons move continuously and can be thought of as being spread over the entire molecule. In a covalent bond, nevertheless, the distribution of electrons has the general characteristics shown by the static view in the figure. The most probable electron locations are between the nuclei, where they are best viewed as being shared between the bonded atoms. 

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