bonding
26 results carry this thread across the degree.
Ionic bonding and the Born-Haber cycle
Lattice energy extracted from a thermodynamic cycle.
Lewis structures and the octet rule
Shared and lone pairs from electron bookkeeping.
VSEPR and molecular shape
Electron-pair repulsion predicts molecular geometry.
Orbital hybridisation
sp, sp2 and sp3 mixing rationalises bond angles.
Molecular orbital theory
Bonding and antibonding combinations give bond order and magnetism.
Electronegativity and bond polarity
Unequal sharing produces dipole moments.
Functional groups and nomenclature
The reactive handles that organise organic chemistry.
Structural and stereoisomerism
One formula, many distinct molecules.
Chirality and optical activity
Molecular handedness and its measurable signature.
Conformational analysis
The energy landscape of rotation about single bonds.
Degree of unsaturation
Counting rings and multiple bonds from a molecular formula.
Crystal field theory
d-orbital splitting in an octahedral ligand field.
Colour and the spectrochemical series
Why coordination complexes are coloured.
The chelate effect
Entropy stabilises multidentate complexes.
Isomerism in complexes
Geometric and optical isomers of coordination compounds.
Coordination number and geometry
Predicting the shapes of metal complexes.
Crystal lattices and the unit cell
Describing periodic solids from a repeating motif.
Bragg's law
Diffraction reveals the spacing of crystal planes.
Close packing and packing efficiency
How hard spheres fill space.
Band theory of solids
Conductors, insulators and semiconductors from overlapping orbitals.
The Born-Lande equation
Lattice energy from electrostatics and repulsion.
Periodic trends across the p-block
Down-group and across-period patterns of behaviour.
Hard and soft acids and bases
Predicting the stability of adducts and complexes.
Frost diagrams
Oxidation-state stability seen at a glance.
Structures of main-group compounds
Applying VSEPR across the elements.
Trends in oxide acidity
From basic to acidic across a period.