Hydrogen Bonding | Definition, Examples, & Facts | Britannica

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External Websites

• BMC Chemistry - Describing hydrogen-bonded structures; topology graphs, nodal symbols and connectivity tables, exemplified by five polymorphs of each of sulfathiazole and sulfapyridine
• Chemguide - Intermolecular Bonding - Hydrogen Bonds
• Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing - Hydrogen-bonds in molecular solids � from biological systems to organic electronics
• Nature - Nature Communications - Quantifying hydrogen bonding using electrically tunable nanoconfined water
• Chemistry LibreTexts - Hydrogen Bonding
• CORE - Hydrogen Bonding in DNA Base Pairs: Reconciliation of Theory and Experiment (PDF)
• Open Oregon Educational Resources - How Hydrogen-bonding Influences Properties
• National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - H‐Bond: Τhe Chemistry‐Biology H‐Bridge
• Education Resources Information Center - Scientific Argumentation in Teaching Hydrogen Bonding
• University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa - Exploring Our Fluid Earth - Hydrogen Bonds Make Water Sticky
• ACS Publications - New Perspective on Hydrogen Bonding (PDF)
• Khan Academy - Hydrogen Bonds in Water
• Cell Press - Current Biology - Hydrogen bonding

hydrogen bonding chemistry Ask Anything Also known as: hydrogen bridge Written and fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Dec. 19, 2025 •History Britannica AI Ask Anything Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask Anything

hydrogen bonding, interaction involving a hydrogen atom located between a pair of other atoms having a high affinity for electrons; such a bond is weaker than an ionic bond or covalent bond but stronger than van der Waals forces. Hydrogen bonds can exist between atoms in different molecules or in parts of the same molecule. One atom of the pair (the donor), generally a fluorine, nitrogen, or oxygen atom, is covalently bonded to a hydrogen atom (―FH, ―NH, or ―OH), whose electrons it shares unequally; its high electron affinity causes the hydrogen to take on a slight positive charge. The other atom of the pair, also typically F, N, or O, has an unshared electron pair, which gives it a slight negative charge. Mainly through electrostatic attraction, the donor atom effectively shares its hydrogen with the acceptor atom, forming a bond. Because of its extensive hydrogen bonding, water (H2O) is liquid over a far greater range of temperatures that would be expected for a molecule of its size. Water is also a good solvent for ionic compounds and many others because it readily forms hydrogen bonds with the solute. Hydrogen bonding between amino acids in a linear protein molecule determines the way it folds up into its functional configuration. Hydrogen bonds between nitrogenous bases in nucleotides on the two strands of DNA (guanine pairs with cytosine, adenine with thymine) give rise to the double-helix structure that is crucial to the transmission of genetic information.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.