Number of bonds formed by sharing an electron pair between two atoms is not restricted to one, it can go beyond four and six is the maximum. While homopolar sextuple bond in Mo2 and W2 has been reported, such a high bond order in heteropolar diatomics has remained elusive. In the pursuit of the sextuple bond in polar diatomics, the present study depicts the existence of such multiple bonds in Rhodium-Scandium hetero-diatom based on relativistic quantum chemical calculations. The bonding comprises of three normal electron sharing covalent bonds and three dative covalent bonds.
Keywords: Bonding analyses; Hetero-polar; Relativistic calculation; Sextuple bond; effective bond order.
© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.