What is catenation ? what is its property ?
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What is catenation ? what is its property ?
The unique property of carbon to form bonds with other carbon atoms giving rise to large molecules is called catenation.
Due to catenation compounds of carbons have long chains of carbon, branches chains of carbon and even carbon atoms arranged in rings.
In chemistry, catenation is the bonding of atoms of the same element into a series, called a chain. A chain or a ring shape may be open if its ends are not bonded to each other, or closed if they are bonded in a ring. The words to catenate and catenation reflect the Latin root catena, "chain".
♦Properties →
Carbon shows catenation to a maximum extent because of its electronic configuration and tendency to form strong covalent bonds. The bond energy of C-C bond is greater than N-N bond and thus catenation in nitrogen is restricted to 2 or 3 nitrogen atoms.