Archive for December 23rd, 2019

Hydrogen bonds: carbon as an acceptor rather than as a donor?

Monday, December 23rd, 2019

A hydrogen bond donor is considered as an electronegative element carrying a hydrogen that is accepted by an atom carrying a lone pair of electrons, as in X:…H-Y where X: is the acceptor and H-Y the donor. Wikipedia asserts that carbon can act as a donor, as we saw in the post on the incredible chloride cage, where six Cl:…H-C interactions trapped the chloride ion inside the cage. This led me to ask how many examples are there of carbon as an acceptor rather than as a donor?

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