What is a Bond?

Organic Bonding and Structure

In this course, Professor Max Majireck (Hamilton College) talks to us about organic bonding and structure. We begin by (i) asking what a bond is, delving into what physics can tell us about the interaction of atoms by Coulomb’s law, before looking at some of the advanced topics in bond dynamics we can learn about with the knowledge we will gain from these lecture; then (ii) looking at orbitals, specifically s and p orbitals, and how these are used to form the covalent bonds in organic molecules by a method known as hybridisation; before (iii) observing the differences between atomic and bonding orbitals; and finally (iv) using this knowledge to describe and explain where the electron density can be found in the single bond, the double bond, and the triple bond.

What is a Bond?

In the first mini-lecture, we define what a bond is. Are bonds static, or are they dynamic - moving about space more freely than a drawing of it might predict? We also define it by looking at the energetics when two atoms are brought closer and closer together. This is defined as Coulomb’s Law. Then, we preview some of the topics that employ the knowledge taught in these lectures such as infrared spectroscopy and conformational analysis.