Bond energy

In chemistry, bond energy (BE), also called the mean bond enthalpy or average bond enthalpy is a measure of bond strength in a chemical bond. IUPAC defines bond energy as the average value of the gas-phase bond-dissociation energy (usually at a temperature of 298.15 K) for all bonds of the same type within the same chemical species.

The bond dissociation energy (enthalpy) is also referred to as bond disruption energy, bond energy, bond strength, or binding energy (abbreviation: BDE, BE, or D). It is defined as the standard enthalpy change of the following fission: R—X → R + X. The BDE, denoted by Dº(R—X), is usually derived by the thermochemical equation,

${\displaystyle {\begin{array}{lcl}\mathrm {D^{\circ }(R-} X)\ =\Delta H_{f}^{\circ }\mathrm {(R)} +\Delta H_{f}^{\circ }(X)-\Delta H_{f}^{\circ }(\mathrm {R} X)\end{array}}}$

This equation tells us that the BDE for a given bond is equal to the energy of the individual components that make up the bond when they are free and unbonded minus the energy of the components when they are bonded together. These energies are given by the enthalpy of formation ΔH_fº of the components in each state.

The enthalpy of formation of a large number of atoms, free radicals, ions, clusters and compounds is available from the websites of NIST, NASA, CODATA, and IUPAC. Most authors prefer to use the BDE values at 298.15 K.

For example, the carbon–hydrogen bond energy in methane BE_(C–H) is the enthalpy change (∆H) of breaking one molecule of methane into a carbon atom and four hydrogen radicals, divided by four. The exact value for a certain pair of bonded elements varies somewhat depending on the specific molecule, so tabulated bond energies are generally averages from a number of selected typical chemical species containing that type of bond.