Bond Polarity

The polarity of a bond—the extent to which it is polar—is determined largely by the relative electronegativities of the bonded atoms. Electronegativity (χ) was defined as the ability of an atom in a molecule or an ion to attract electrons to itself. Thus there is a direct correlation between electronegativity and bond polarity. A bond is nonpolar if the bonded atoms have equal electronegativities. If the electronegativities of the bonded atoms are not equal, however, the bond is polarized toward the more electronegative atom. A bond in which the electronegativity of B (χ_B) is greater than the electronegativity of A (χ_A), for example, is indicated with the partial negative charge on the more electronegative atom:

One way of estimating the ionic character of a bond—that is, the magnitude of the charge separation in a polar covalent bond—is to calculate the difference in electronegativity between the two atoms: Δχ = χ_B − χ_A.

To predict the polarity of the bonds in Cl₂, HCl, and NaCl, for example, we look at the electronegativities of the relevant atoms: χ_Cl = 3.16, χ_H = 2.20, and χ_Na = 0.93. Cl₂ must be nonpolar because the electronegativity difference (Δχ) is zero; hence the two chlorine atoms share the bonding electrons equally. In NaCl, Δχ is 2.23. This high value is typical of an ionic compound (Δχ ≥ ≈1.5) and means that the valence electron of sodium has been completely transferred to chlorine to form Na⁺ and Cl⁻ ions. In HCl, however, Δχ is only 0.96. The bonding electrons are more strongly attracted to the more electronegative chlorine atom, and so the charge distribution is

Remember that electronegativities are difficult to measure precisely and different definitions produce slightly different numbers. In practice, the polarity of a bond is usually estimated rather than calculated.

As with bond energies, the electronegativity of an atom depends to some extent on its chemical environment. It is therefore unlikely that the reported electronegativities of a chlorine atom in NaCl, Cl₂, ClF₅, and HClO₄ would be exactly the same.