| Abstract: | The bond critical points and associated electronic properties of the diatomic hydrides of the twenty-one main group elements from lithium to bromine have been calculated with large basis sets. As part of a systematic study of the polarity of chemical bonds, the position of the bond critical point, the charge density at the bond critical point, the Laplacian of the charge density at the bond critical point, and the molecular dipole moment of each molecule have been calculated. Particular attention has been paid to the effect of bond length elongation and contraction on the electronic properties. Variation of the bond length reveals that with atoms of low electronegativity, the bond critical point of AH tends to follow atom A, whereas with atoms of high electronegativity, the bond critical point tends to follow the hydrogen atom as the bond lengthens. Furthermore, it is shown that some properties of the diatomic hydrides vary monotonically within each row of the periodic table, while others effect a classification according to the character of the bond. |
