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Updated: Jul 25, 2026

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
How strong is a covalent bond?
1Lehrstuhl fur Angewandte Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Amalienstrasse 54, D-80799 Munchen, Germany. Institut fur Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Technische Universitat Munchen, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, 85748 Garching.
Abstract:
The rupture force of single covalent bonds under an external load was measured with an atomic force microscope (AFM). Single polysaccharide molecules were covalently anchored between a surface and an AFM tip and then stretched until they became detached. By using different surface chemistries for the attachment, it was found that the silicon-carbon bond ruptured at 2.0 +/- 0.3 nanonewtons, whereas the sulfur-gold anchor ruptured at 1.4 +/- 0.3 nanonewtons at force-loading rates of 10 nanonewtons per second. Bond rupture probability calculations that were based on density functional theory corroborate the measured values.
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