Issue 42, 2023

A focus on penetration index – a new descriptor of chemical bonding

Abstract

Electron clouds surrounding atoms interpenetrate in a molecule, due to weak van der Waals interactions or formation of a genuine chemical bond. Now, Alvarez and Echeverría (S. Alvarez, J. Echeverría, Chem. Sci., 2023, https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SC02238B) suggest a simple descriptor of how deep this interpenetration is, calling it a penetration index, i [Å]. This property may easily be related to a combined thickness of the van der Waals regions of two bond-forming atoms, thus giving rise to a dimensionless penetration index, pAB [%]. How far this new index may take us will be discussed in this article.

Graphical abstract: A focus on penetration index – a new descriptor of chemical bonding

Article information

Article type
Commentary
First published
13 out 2023
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2023,14, 11597-11600

A focus on penetration index – a new descriptor of chemical bonding

W. Grochala, Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 11597 DOI: 10.1039/D3SC90191B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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