Covalent dipole moments

The unequal distribution of charge produced when elements of different electronegativities combine causes a polarity of the covalent bond joining them and, unless this polarity is balanced by an equal and opposite polarity, the molecule will be a dipole and have a dipole moment (for example, a hydrogen halide). Carbon tetrachloride is one of a relatively few examples in which a strong polarity does not result in a molecular dipole. It has a tetrahedral configuration... 

Carbon-oxygen and carbon-halogen bonds are polar covalent bonds and carbon bears a partial positive charge in alcohols ( " C—0 ) and in alkyl halides ( " C—X ) Alcohols and alkyl halides are polar molecules The dipole moments of methanol and chloromethane are very similar to each other and to water... 

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. 

Dipole moment (n ), 38 halomethanes, 335 polar covalent bonds and, 38-39 table of, 39... 

Although the S—O bond lengths in sulphoxides and sulphones seem to indicate that these are covalent double bonds, the dipole moments of these compounds obtained by calculation or by experimental measurements support the semipolar single-bond character in these compounds, and they should be represented as S - O, with about 66% ionic character14,15. 

Electronegativity is a measure of the pulling power of an atom on the electrons in a bond. A polar covalent bond is a bond between two atoms with partial electric charges arising from their difference in electronegativity. The presence of partial charges gives rise to an electric dipole moment. 

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. 

The quantum mechanical argument used in deriving the original electronegativity scale involved the amount of ionic character of a normal covalent bond A—B, and it was evident that the amount of ionic character and accordingly the value of the electric dipole moment of the bond would be closely correlated with the difference Ax = xA — xB of the two atoms A and B. In the first edition of The Nature of the Chemical Bond (1939) the following equation was advanced ... 

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. 

Structure I is the most important of the three. A covalent azide such as HN3 (dipole moment = 1.70 D) can be represented by the resonance structures... 

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