Chapter 2: Polarity of Bonds, Electronegativity, and Intermolecular Forces

The bonding between a carbon and another carbon atom or between carbon and hydrogen atoms is based on an almost equal sharing of electrons. This results in non-polar bonds, whereas bonding between carbon (or hydrogen) atoms with more electronegative elements such as oxygen and nitrogen forms polar bonds with electrons tending to be held more to the electronegative side. Such polar bonding with partial electronic charge distributions has implications for intermolecular interactions between the same or different types of molecules. The different types of intermolecular forces that bring molecules together and how these determine the physical properties of chemical compounds are discussed.