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Molecular binding is an attractive interaction between two molecules that results in a stable association in which the molecules are in close proximity to each other. It is formed when atoms or molecules bind together by sharing of electrons. It often, but not always, involves some chemical bonding.
A major application of Walsh diagrams is to explain the regularity in structure observed for related molecules having identical numbers of valence electrons (e.g. why H 2 O and H 2 S look similar), and to account for how molecules alter their geometries as their number of electrons or spin state changes.
Covalent bonds often result in the formation of small collections of better-connected atoms called molecules, which in solids and liquids are bound to other molecules by forces that are often much weaker than the covalent bonds that hold the molecules internally together. Such weak intermolecular bonds give organic molecular substances, such as ...
On the molecular level, the interlocked molecules cannot be separated without the breaking of the covalent bonds that comprise the conjoined molecules; this is referred to as a mechanical bond. Examples of mechanically interlocked molecular architectures include catenanes , rotaxanes , molecular knots , and molecular Borromean rings .
The bond order, or number of bonds, of a molecule can be determined by combining the number of electrons in bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals. A pair of electrons in a bonding orbital creates a bond, whereas a pair of electrons in an antibonding orbital negates a bond.
Bond order is the number of chemical bonds between a pair of atoms. The bond order of a molecule can be calculated by subtracting the number of electrons in anti-bonding orbitals from the number of bonding orbitals, and the resulting number is then divided by two. A molecule is expected to be stable if it has bond order larger than zero.
In molecular orbital theory, bond order is defined as half the difference between the number of bonding electrons and the number of antibonding electrons as per the equation below. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] This often but not always yields similar results for bonds near their equilibrium lengths, but it does not work for stretched bonds. [ 7 ]
Molecules, by definition, are most often held together with covalent bonds involving single, double, and/or triple bonds, where a "bond" is a shared pair of electrons (the other method of bonding between atoms is called ionic bonding and involves a positive cation and a negative anion).