Hydrogen Bonding

Hydrogen Bonding Nitrogen, oxygen and fluorine are the highly electronegative elements. When they are attached to a hydrogen atom to form covalent bond, the electrons of the covalent bond are shifted towards the more electronegative atom. This partially positively charged hydrogen atom forms a bond with the other more electronegative atom. This bond is known as hydrogen bond and is weaker than the covalent bond. For example, in HF molecule, the hydrogen bond exists between hydrogen atom of one molecule and fluorine atom of another molecule as depicted below: ----H 𝛿 + F 𝛿 - Here, hydrogen bond acts as a bridge between two atoms which holds one atom by covalent bond and the other by hydrogen bond. Hydrogen bond is represented by a dotted line (---) while a solid line represents the covalent bond. Thus, hydrogen bond can be defined as the attractive force which binds hydrogen atom of one molecule with the electronegative atom