Hydrogen Bonding and Intermolecular Forces

Hydrogen bonding is an attraction that helps explain water's relatively high boiling point. In the introductory model used here, a hydrogen bonded to nitrogen, oxygen or fluorine is attracted to an available lone pair on N, O or F in another molecule.

Hydrogen bonding is one kind of intermolecular attraction. London dispersion forces act between all molecules, while polar molecules also have permanent dipole–dipole attractions. Between non-polar molecules, dispersion forces are the principal intermolecular attraction.

Key terms

• London dispersion forces

• dipole–dipole forces

• hydrogen bond

• polar molecule