A conceptual approach to hydrogen bonding

Document Type : Review article

Author

Department of Chemistry Education, Farhangian University, P.O. Box 14665-889, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background and Objective: In spite of the fact that the concept of hydrogen bond has been used not only in chemistry but also in other branches of science for more than a century, there is still some doubt about what this basic term means. Due to the importance of hydrogen bond and lately observed experimental results, an attempt has been made to discuss interesting aspects of the hydrogen bonding concept in this review paper, which are not elaborated upon properly in the textbooks. Hopefully, this study will be beneficial for chemistry teachers and students.
Materials and Methods: This study was carried out based on literature survey using reliable scientific databases, such as Google Scholar. In this study, an effort was undertaken to examine the collected data and present a consistent perspective on the definition of hydrogen bond, its categories, some and related aspects.
Findings: A practical definition of hydrogen bonding was obtained by a careful review of the literature. In addition, the various reports about hydrogen bond indicate that it can form not only with nitrogen, oxygen, and fluorine atoms but also, under specific conditions, with other atoms such as boron, carbon, and even hydrogen itself. Subsequent sections are devoted to the discussion of symmetric hydrogen bonds and the results of quantum chemical calculations related to this topic.
Conclusion: This research, focusing on redefinition of the hydrogen bond, offers a comprehensive review about this subject with a special focus on the symmetric hydrogen bond. Regarding the vast information available on hydrogen bond, this article aims to shed light on certain aspects of this peculiar bond. It is recommended that quantum chemical calculations should be used to further investigate hydrogen bond in order to get a deeper and thorough understanding of this intricate chemical bond.

Keywords

References

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Research in Chemistry Education
Volume 8, Issue 3 - Serial Number 31
September 2026
Pages 1-26

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