This weird chemical bond acts like a mash-up of hydrogen and covalent bonds

 Hydrogen bonds are a form of dipole-dipole force which is a weak intermolecular force. Covalent bonds are a strong chemical bond that holds atoms together in a molecule by sharing electrons. Researchers found a hydrogen bond - covalent bond hybrid. They found this by observing a group of atoms called bifluoride ions, consisting of 1 hydrogen atom and 2 fluorine atoms. Normally a fluorine atom would covalently bond with the hydrogen and the other fluorine atom would hydrogen bond with the hydrogen atom. Researchers used infrared light to see how the bifluoride vibrates to measure the hydrogen atoms’ response. The hydrogen atom was shared between the two fluorine atoms equally. Computer calculations showed that this behavior is dependent on the distance between the fluorine atoms; the closer they are to each other, the hydrogen bond becomes stronger resulting in all three atoms sharing electrons in a covalent bond, forming what is being called a hydrogen-mediated chemical bond. A hydrogen-mediated bond can form in water that contains excess hydrogen ions. Two water molecules would sandwich a hydrogen molecule creating a Zundel ion, in which the hydrogen ion is equally shared between both water molecules.

Conover, E. (2021, January 27). This weird chemical bond acts like a mash-up of hydrogen and covalent bonds. Retrieved May 29, 2021, from https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-weird-hybrid-chemical-bond-hydrogen-covalent