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Updated: Jun 2, 2025

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Can we talk about ionic bonds in molecules? Yes, just as we do for covalent bonds
Ángel Martín Pendás1, Diogo J L Rodriges1, Evelio Francisco1
1Dpto. Química Física y Analítica, Univ. Oviedo, C/Julián Clavería 8, 33006 Oviedo, Spain. ampendas@uniovi.es.
Abstract:
A claim that ionic bonds exist only in ionic solids is critically analyzed by focusing on the controversial LiH molecule, classified as covalent by non-orthogonal valence bond supporters, polar-covalent by molecular orbital advocates, and ionic by real-space proponents. Using orbital invariant techniques we show that LiH can be regarded ionic in the same manner that dihydrogen is considered covalent.
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