Covalent Character and Polarizability

[Joseph_Armani_3K]

I'm a little confused as to how stronger polarizing power (cation) and higher polarizability (anion) could result in the bond having more covalent character. If those forces are greater, I'd have assumed it would have more ionic character.

[Leyna Tran 2D]

my understanding of this topic is that in an ionic bond, there is some covalent character because there is a region in which electrons are shared. The larger the size of the anion, the higher its polarizability and the smaller the cation, the larger its polarizing ability allows it to pull more of the electrons from the anion in the shared region. this increased pull of electrons towards the cation in the electron region is why there is more covalent character. more of the electrons are shared now in the region because the small, higher charged cation has the strong polarizing ability to pull the electrons towards it.

[Sophia Wendin 3L]

When the cation is small with a high charge (high polarizing power), it can distort a large anions (high polarizability) electrons really well so there is a shared region between the two ions. This shared region gives the ionic bond covalent character. In a covalent bond, atoms share electrons, so an ionic bond with a shared region would have covalent character.

[JonathanSung_2G]

Covalent character is based on the electrons that are in the shared region between two ions. Because a small cation or a large anion have a high polarizability, this means that their electrons are more easily distorted. When a small highly charged cation is covalently bonded to a large anion, there is a greater covalent character because the anion's electrons are easily drawn to the shared region. Ionic bonds have covalent character.

[IreneGi2I]

When anion's electron cloud is distorted toward the cation, there will be more "shared" region between two atoms. This means that there will be more covalent character between them!