Friday, September 7, 2018

intermolecular forces - Does oxygen gas form hydrogen bonds?


I learned that hydrogen bonding is formed from a 'sandwich' of hydrogen and either oxygen, nitrogen, or fluorine where nitrogen, fluorine, or oxygen is the bread.


Will oxygen gas and water form hydrogen bonds? The oxygen-hydrogen sandwich could be made, but oxygen gas has no hydrogen attached. Is it necessary for both molecules to contain hydrogen for hydrogen bonding to occur?



To make it clear, the question is: do both molecules have to contain hydrogen in order for hydrogen bonding to occur?



Answer




To make it clear, the question is: do both molecules have to contain hydrogen in order for hydrogen bonding to occur?



No, as noted by Prakhar in his answer, tertiary amines are one class of compounds that can participate in hydrogen bonding (as an acceptor) when there is no hydrogen atom directly bound to the participating atom.


As an example, trimethylamine can hydrogen bond just fine with water:


trimethylamine hydrogen bonded to water


More information can be found, e.g., here at ChemGuide (scroll down to "Solubility in water").


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