In search of the chemical bond

There are few chemical concepts that are as well-known as the chemical bond. Casually defined as the glue that binds atoms together, it is impossible to avoid learning of bonds when studying chemistry. And while defining the bond like this may seem crude from a scientific perspective, chemists haven’t really agreed on a more sophisticated uniform definition.

There are two reasons for this. First, there is no consensus on which are the essential features of a bond. From ionic to covalent, to metallic and multi-centre bonds, each type is characterised differently and exhibits features that the other types do not. Moreover, strange new bond types continue to be discovered. In fact, bonding is found in forms, situations and circumstances that do not match with how bonds are typically understood in theory and practice. The result is a proliferation of different types of bonds that – at least on the face of it – seem detached and disunified.