MadSci Network: Chemistry
Query:

Re: What type of chemical bond does ammonium chloride have? Is it ionic or cova

Date: Tue Dec 20 10:04:29 2005
Posted By: Dan Berger, Faculty Chemistry/Science, Bluffton University
Area of science: Chemistry
ID: 1135064512.Ch
Message:

The answer is, both ionic and covalent.

There is no (or not much) covalent interaction between ammonium ion and chloride ion in the solid state; the ions are arranged in a so-called "cesium chloride" structure, which is common for 1-to-1 ratios of large cations and smaller anions.

However, bonding between nitrogen and the four hydrogens within the ammonium ion itself is covalent.

There is a somewhat less common way of representing ammonium chloride, NH3.HCl. This shows two things:

  • You can make ammonium chloride by reacting ammonia with HCl.
  • Ammonium chloride is the hydrochloride salt of ammonia. This convention is more often used with amine salts with a complex structure, like morphine hydrochloride which is easier to "get" than "morphinium chloride" or some such.

Dan Berger


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