CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

Why will hydrogen only form bonds with highly electronegative atoms?

Only highly electronegative atoms are strong enough (negative in charge) to attract the H atom, which has a positive dipole and literally acts like a proton.

Hydrogen only forms hydrogen bonds with N, O, and F because they are the only elements with high enough electro negativities to attract it.

Yes because high electronegative atoms are stronger enough to attract H

If an H atom is connected to N,O, or F on one side but to for example C on the other be considered an attractive force?

do NOF attract H because they want an electron and H wants to lose it?

N, O, and F are the most electronegative elements (upper righthand corner of the periodic table). Hydrogen will only form hydrogen bonds with them because the electronegative atoms attract the electron cloud around hydrogen and leave hydrogen with a positive charge.

The high electronegative atoms will be the only ones strong enough to pull away the electron from hydrogen to form the H-bond.

NicoJones_1B wrote:Why will hydrogen only form bonds with highly electronegative atoms?

In lecture, Dr. Lavelle, said that hydrogen bonds form only when a hydrogen atom is covalently bonded to N, O, F atoms and is close to another electronegative atom (I'm assuming N, O, F) that has a lone pair nearby.