On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 6:00 AM, Weizhou Wang <wzwanglab@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear Prof. Dr. Arunan,

Thank you very much for your kind reply.

Let's look at the complexes F3Si-H...YHn, F2P-H...YHn (J. AM. CHEM. SOC. 2002, 124, 9639-9647). They are all of hydrogen-bonded complexes according to the authors. However, the values of eletronegativity for Si and P both are smaller than that of H.

Pauling: Si: 1.90; P: 2.19; H: 2.20

Slater:   Si: 1.92; P: 2.25; H: 2.30

Maybe we can get some hints from the halogen bond. I know you are also very familar with the halogen bond. for the halogen bond, the statement of "in which X is more electronegative than Hal" is obviously incorrect because, as you know, X is less electronegative than Hal in most of the halogen-bonded complexes. This means that the formation of the noncovalent bond may be not related to the electronegativity of X. I think for the hydrogen bond it should be very similar.

This is just my own opinions. I wish I'm not wasting your time.

Best regards,

Weizhou Wang