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Chemistry

Brevity for bonds

Fashion design? Game-playing? Designing the shortest bond between two carbon atoms can seem to have elements of such apparently ephemeral pursuits. But it can also stretch the chemist's creativity.

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Figure 1: Bonding energy potential and carbon–carbon bond-length distribution.

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Siegel, J. Brevity for bonds. Nature 439, 801–802 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/439801a

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