Question

What is bond cleavage?

Answer 1

Bond cleavage:

• The splitting or fission of a chemical bond is known as bond cleavage.
• A bond represents a shared pair of electrons between two atoms.

Types of bond cleavage:

• Homolytic bond cleavage
• Heterolytic bond cleavage

Homolytic bond cleavage:

• In this cleavage, the shared pair of electrons is equally distributed between the two atoms.
• It results in the formation of free radicals i.e., single unpaired electron species.
• The general equation is shown below in the image.

Heterolytic bond cleavage:

• In this cleavage, the shared pair of electrons is taken away by one atom completely.
• It results in the formation of charged species i.e., positively and negatively charged ions.
• The general equation is shown below in the image.