Catenation

Introduction

Catenation is a chemical bonding process that occurs only between atoms of the same element that have a valence of at least two and form reasonably strong bonds with one another. Carbon atoms have the most of the property, while sulphur and silicon atoms have a substantial amount of it, and germanium, nitrogen, selenium, and tellurium atoms have a minor amount of it.

Occurrence of Catenation

Carbon

The Catenation occurs easily in carbon atoms, creating covalent bonds with the other carbon atoms to form longer chains and structure. This is the main reason why so many organic compounds occur in nature. Carbon is known for its bonding properties, and organic chemistry is primarily the study of bonded carbon structures (also called bonds). In biochemistry, carbon chains connect each of a variety of other elements, such as oxygen, bio metals, and hydrogen, to the skeleton of carbon.

An ability of an element to catenate is mainly determined by its binding energy toward itself. The binding energy decreases as more spaced orbitals (orbitals with higher azimuthal quantum numbers) overlap to form a bond. As a result, carbon elements with the smallest or smallest diffuse valence shell orbits form longer pp sigma-bonded atomic chains compared to heavy elements with higher valence shell orbitals.

The ability to chain is further influenced by the combinations of electronic and steric effects such as Electronegativity of elements, molecular orbitals n, and the ability to form covalent bonds of various forms. For carbon atoms, the sigma overlap between adjacent atoms is strong enough to form a perfectly stable chain.

Hydrogen

The structure of water theory includes a three-dimensional network of chains and rings connected by hydrogen bonds and a tetrahedron. In organic chemistry, it is well known that hydrogen bonds promote the formation of chain structures. For example, the 4-tricyclene C10H16O represents a linked hydrogen bond between hydroxyl groups, leading to the formation of a helical chain. Crystalline isophthalic acid C8H6O4 is composed of molecules that are bonded by hydrogen bonds to form an infinite chain.

Under unusual conditions, the one-dimensional array of hydrogen molecules is confined within a single wall, but carbon nanotubes are expected to become metals at relatively low pressures of 163.5 GPa. This is up to 40% of the approximately 400 GPa required for normal hydrogen metallization, a pressure that is difficult to access experimentally.

Silicon

The Silicon forms a sigma bond with the other silicon atoms (disilane is given as the parent of this class of the compounds). However, it is not easy to prepare and separate SinH2n + 2 (similar to saturated alkane hydrocarbons) with n greater than 8. This is because the thermal stability decreases as the number of silicon atoms increases.

Silanes, that are better in molecular weight as compared to the disilane, decompose to hydrogen and polymeric polysilicon hydride. However, with the correct pair of the natural substituents on every and each silicon withinside the area of hydrogen, it’s also feasible to put together polysilanes (at times, the inaccurate ones are known as polysilanes) that may be described as the analogues of alkanes. These particularly long-chain compounds contain surprising electronic properties with high electrical conductivity, for example due to the sigma delocalization of the electrons present in the chain. 

Silicon Silicon pi bonding is also possible. However, these bonds are less stable than carbon analogs. Disilane is much more reactive than ethane. Unlike alkenes and alkynes, disilynes and disilynes are extremely rare.

Sulfur

The chemistry of elemental sulfur is primarily chain-based. In its natural state, sulfur exists as an S8 molecule. When heated, these rings open and connect to each other, causing the chain to gradually lengthen, as evidenced by gradual increase in the viscosity as the length of chain increases. Selenium and tellurium also show the variants of such structural motifs.

Examples of Catenation

The most common examples of elements that indicate concatenation are shown below.

• Carbon
• Silicon
• Sulfur
• Boron

Catenation is most easily generated in carbon by forming covalent bonds to create longer structures and chains with other carbon atoms. For this reason, nature contains many organic compounds. In organic chemistry, carbon is the most well-known element for its bonding properties and analyzes the bonded carbon structure.

Group 4 has a catenation property.

Catenation is a property shared by all members of the Carbon Group or Group 4. Catenations are most likely to occur in the first member of the family.

The Catenation tendencies are as follows:

Si > Ge > Sn > Pb > C > Si > Ge > Sn > Pb > C > Si > Ge 

The tendency to chain decreases in groups. This happens because the atomic size in the group increases and the strength of the covalent bond decreases. Therefore, the bound properties within the group are reduced.

Conclusion

Carbon is known to be the element most prone to chaining. It forms covalent bonds and forms longer chains and structures with other carbon atoms. This is the main reason why so many organic compounds occur in nature. This is a phenomenon in which an atom forms a strong covalent bond with its own atom. Since carbon is small and can form pπ-pπ multiple bonds with itself, it best shares the properties of the linkage. The following conditions are required for catenation 

• The item has a valency of 2 or more. 
•  The element must have the ability to combine with itself. 
• Self-attachment must be as strong as attachment to other elements. 
• The Kinetic inertness of the catenated compound towards the other molecules

Carbon has all of the above properties and forms a variety of compounds with itself.