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A coordinate covalent bond (also known as dative bond) is a description of covalent bonding in many kinds of compounds. The distinction from ordinary covalent bonding is artificial, but the terminology is popular in textbooks, especially those describing coordination compounds. Once the bonds have been formed using this, its strength and description is no different from that of other polar covalent bonds. Image File history File links Image-request. ... Covalent bonding is a form of chemical bonding that is characterized by the sharing of pairs of electrons between atoms. ...

Coordinate covalent bonds are invoked when a Lewis base (an electron donor or giver) donates a pair of electrons to a Lewis acid (an electron acceptor) to give a so-called adduct. The process of forming a dative bond is called coordination. The electron donor acquires a positive formal charge, while the electron acceptor acquires a negative formal charge. A Lewis base is any molecule or ion that can form a new covalent bond by donating a pair of electrons. ... In chemistry, a Lewis acid can accept a pair of electrons and form a coordinate covalent bond, after the American chemist Gilbert Lewis. ... In chemistry, a formal charge (FC) on an atom in a molecule is defined as: FC = number of valence electrons of the atom - number of Lone pair electrons on this atom - half the total number of electrons participating in covalent bonds with this atom. ...

Examples

Classically, any compound that contains a lone pair of electrons is capable of forming a coordinate bond. The bonding in diverse chemical compounds can be described as coordinate covalent bonding. A chemical compound is a chemical substance formed from two or more elements, with a fixed ratio determining the composition. ...

• carbon monoxide (CO) can be viewed as containing one coordinate bond and two "normal" covalent bonds between the carbon atom and the oxygen atom. This highly unusual description illustrates the flexibility of this bonding description. Thus in CO, carbon is the electron acceptor and oxygen is the electron donor.
• ammonium ion (NH₄⁺), can be viewed as consisting of four coordinate covalent bonds between the protons (the H⁺ ion) and the nitrogen trianion "N^3-".
• beryllium dichloride (BeCl₂) is described as electron deficient in the sense that the triatomic species (which does exist in the gas phase) features Be centers with four valence electrons. When treated with excess chloride, the Be²⁺ ion binds four chloride ions to form tetrachloroberyllate anion, BeCl₄^2-, wherein all ions achieve the octet configuration of electrons.

Carbon monoxide, with the chemical formula CO, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas. ... General Name, Symbol, Number carbon, C, 6 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 14, 2, p Appearance black (graphite) colorless (diamond) Standard atomic weight 12. ... Properties In chemistry and physics, an atom (Greek ἄτομος or átomos meaning indivisible) is the smallest particle still characterizing a chemical element. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Standard atomic weight 15. ... A ball-and-stick model of the ammonium cation Fumes from hydrochloric acid and ammonia forming a white cloud of ammonium chloride Ammonium is also an old name for the Siwa Oasis in western Egypt. ... In physics, the proton (Greek proton = first) is a subatomic particle with an electric charge of one positive fundamental unit (1. ... General Name, Symbol, Number nitrogen, N, 7 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 15, 2, p Appearance colorless gas Standard atomic weight 14. ... A compound that is electron deficient has too few valence electrons for the connections between atoms to be described as covalent bonds. ...

Coordination compounds

Coordinate bonding is popularly used to describe coordination complexes, especially involving metal ions. In such complexes, several Lewis bases "donate" their "free" pairs of electrons to an otherwise naked metal cation, which acts as a Lewis acid and "accepts" the electrons. Coordinate bonds form and the resulting compound is called a coordination complex, and the electron donors are called ligands. A more useful description of bonding in coordination compounds is provided by Ligand Field Theory, which embraces molecular orbitals as a description of bonding in such polyatomic compounds. Synthesis of copper(II)-tetraphenylporphine, a metal complex, from tetraphenylporphine and copper(II) acetate monohydrate. ... Hot metal work from a blacksmith In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily loses electrons to form positive ions (cations) and has metallic bonds between metal atoms. ... In chemistry, a ligand is an atom, ion, or molecule (see also: functional group) that generally donates one or more of its electrons through a coordinate covalent bond to, or shares its electrons through a covalent bond with, one or more central atoms or ions (these ligands act as a... Ligand field theory was developed during the thirties and fourties of the twentieth century as an expansion of the electrostatic crystal field theory, which offered a good description of the electronic structure of metal ions in coordination complexes but was not able to provide a proper explanation for their bonding. ... In quantum chemistry, molecular orbitals are the statistical states electrons can have within molecules. ...

Many chemical compounds can serve as ligands, often these contain oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, and halide ions. The most common ligand is water (H₂O), which forms coordination complexes with metal metal ions, e.g. [Cu(H₂O)₆]²⁺. Ammonia (NH₃) is also a common ligand. Anions are common ligands, especially fluoride (F^-), chloride (Cl^-), and cyanide (CN^-). General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Standard atomic weight 15. ... General Name, Symbol, Number sulfur, S, 16 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 3, p Appearance lemon yellow Standard atomic weight 32. ... General Name, Symbol, Number nitrogen, N, 7 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 15, 2, p Appearance colorless gas Standard atomic weight 14. ... A halide is a binary compound, of which one part is a halogen atom and the other part is an element or radical that is less electronegative than the halogen, to make a fluoride, chloride, bromide, iodide, or astatide compound. ... Impact of a drop of water Water is a chemical substance that is essential to all known forms of life. ... Ammonia is a compound with the formula NH3. ... Fluoride is the ionic form of fluorine. ... The chloride ion is formed when the element chlorine picks up one electron to form an anion (negatively-charged ion) Cl−. The salts of hydrochloric acid HCl contain chloride ions and can also be called chlorides. ... The cyanide ion, CN−. From the top: 1. ...

A coordinate bond is sometimes represented by an arrow pointing from the donor of the electron pair to the acceptor of the electron pair.

See also

• Sigma bond
• Pi bond
• Delta bond

Electron atomic and molecular orbitals, showing among others the sigma bond of two s-orbitals and a sigma bond of two p-orbitals In chemistry, sigma bonds (σ bonds) are a type of covalent chemical bond. ... Electron atomic and molecular orbitals, showing a Pi-bond at the bottom right of the picture In chemistry, pi bonds (π bonds) are bonds with a single nodal plane containing the line segment between the two atoms. ... Delta bonds are bonds which contain two nodal planes, whose intersection is a line containing the segment joining the two bonded species. ...

External links

• Chemguide