Halogen Bonding in Supramolecular and Solid State Chemistry - Faraday Discussion

Halogen bonding is a topic which continues to gain increased international attention across the chemical, biochemical, and materials sciences - this non-covalent interaction receiving a formal IUPAC definition only recently. The halogen bond may be considered as a special case of sigma-hole bonding, wherein an electron donor interacts with the electrophilic region of a halogen atom. Within this broader picture, sigma-hole bonding can encompass a range of non-covalent interactions which are named after the atom bearing the electrophilic region, also known as the sigma-hole. Chalcogen bonds and pnicogen bonds have been studied both theoretically and in the solid state, for example. Most recently, the carbon bond has received attention as a special type of tetrel bond. However, the concept of sigma-hole bonding is clearly poised to take on a broader importance to a wide range of researchers and this Faraday Discussion will unite experimentalists and theoreticians who are pushing the applicability of this broad class of interactions far beyond only the halogens.