Chalcogen bond

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In chemistry, a chalcogen bond (ChB) is an attractive interaction in the family of σ-hole interactions, along with halogen bonds.^[1][2] Electrostatic, charge-transfer (CT) and dispersion terms have been identified as contributing to this type of interaction. In terms of CT contribution, this family of attractive interactions^[3] has been modeled as an electron donor (the bond acceptor) interacting with the σ* orbital of a C-X bond (X= hydrogen, halogen, chalcogen, pnictogen, etc.) of the bond donor. In terms of electrostatic interactions, the molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) maps is often invoked to visualize the electron density of the donor and an electrophilic region on the acceptor, where the potential is depleted, referred to as a σ-hole. ChBs, much like hydrogen and halogen bonds, have been invoked in various non-covalent interactions, such as protein folding, crystal engineering, self-assembly, catalysis, transport, sensing, templation, and drug design.^[4]