On the nature of pseudo-binary compounds

The nature of pseudo-binary compounds follows from our discussion of binary compounds. The bonding between radicals and radicals or radicals and atoms is the same as the bonding between atoms and atoms. For example  

Bonding within radicals is of a covalent character. Thus the full bond formula of the HCN molecule is 

Ions like [CN] and [NKj] are called molecular ions. The square brackets indicate that the charge is somewhere on the radical as a whole, but they are often omitted CN and NHj . This should not be misinterpreted as implying, for example, that the charge on the cyanide ion is located on the nitrogen atom. 

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