Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Experimental and computational probes of the nature of halogen bonding: complexes of bromine-containing molecules
Sergiy V Rosokha1, Charlotte L Stern, Jeremy T Ritzert
1Department of Biological, Chemical and Physical Sciences, Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60605, USA. srosokha@roosevelt.edu
Abstract:
The nature of halogen bonding is examined via experimental and computational characterizations of a series of associates between electrophilic bromocarbons R-Br (R-Br=CBr3F, CBr3NO2, CBr3COCBr3, CBr3CONH2, CBr3CN, etc.) and bromide anions. The [R-Br, Br(-)] complexes show intense absorption bands in the 200-350 nm range which follow the same Mulliken correlation as those observed for the charge-transfer associates of bromide anions with common organic π-acceptors. For a wide range of the associates, intermolecular R-Br···Br(-) separations decrease and intramolecular C-Br bond lengths increase proportionally to the Br(-)→R-Br charge transfer; and the energies of R-Br···Br(-) bonds are correlated with the linear combination of orbital (charge-transfer) and electrostatic interactions. On the whole, spectral, structural and thermodynamic characteristics of the [R-Br, Br(-)] complexes indicate that besides electrostatics, the orbital (charge-transfer) interactions play a vital role in the R-Br···Br(-) halogen bonding. This indicates that in addition to controlling the geometries of supramolecular assemblies, halogen bonding leads to electronic coupling between interacting species, and thus affects reactivity of halogenated molecules, as well as conducting and magnetic properties of their solid-state materials.
Related Concept Videos
Halogenation of Alkenes
Consider the bromination of cyclopentene. Molecular bromine is polarized in the proximity of the π electrons of cyclopentene. An electrophilic bromine atom adds across the double bond, forming a cyclic bromonium ion intermediate.
Formation of Halohydrin from Alkenes
Radical Substitution: Allylic Bromination
Alkyl Halides
Alkyl halides are halogen-substituted alkanes wherein one or more hydrogen atoms of an alkane is replaced by a halogen atom such as fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine. The carbon atom in an alkyl halide is bonded to the halogen atom, which is sp3-hybridized and exhibits a tetrahedral shape.
Unlike alkyl halides, compounds in which a halogen atom is bonded to an sp2 -hybridized carbon atom of a carbon-carbon double bond (C=C) are called vinyl halides. Whereas aryl...
Halogens
Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution: Chlorination and Bromination of Benzene

