Visualizing Bond Types with Electron Density Models: How Informative is Electronegativity?

Electron densities are used to visualize pure covalent, polar covalent and ionic bonds in binary compounds. The rationale for this study stems in part from the observations that within the same bond type, for example pure covalent, a variety of bond properties exist. Simple ∆EN predictions by Pauling do not adequately explain differences within the same bond type, nor determine covalent or ionic bonding. In this study, a series of electron density maps for binary compounds have been calculated to compare the characteristics of the maps to ∆EN predictions.