Definition of covalent bonding and shared electron pairs

Summary

A covalent bond is a chemical bond in which atoms attract each other by sharing electrons. The shared electrons form electron pairs called shared pairs (or bonding pairs). Covalent bonding is the stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces that results when atoms share electrons, often allowing each atom to achieve a stable valence-shell electronic configuration (e.g., the “octet”/“duet” ideas in simple cases). In molecules like H2, two hydrogen atoms share a pair of electrons to form the covalent bond. Covalent bonding is especially common in organic chemistry and is typically strongest between atoms with similar electronegativities. The shared-electron concept also extends beyond simple two-atom, two-electron bonds to many bonding types (such as sigma and pi bonds, and multi-center bonds). When electrons are shared among more than two atoms, the bonding can be delocalized. Overall, covalent bonding provides a framework for understanding molecular structure and stability, and quantum mechanics is used to describe the detailed nature of these shared-electron interactions.

Key Points

• 1

  A covalent bond forms when two atoms share electrons, creating shared (bonding) electron pairs between them.

• 2

  Covalent bonding reflects a stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces and often leads to atoms achieving stable valence-shell configurations.

• 3

  The degree and nature of covalent bonding depend on factors like electronegativity, and bonding can involve many types including sigma/pi and delocalized multi-atom sharing.