By Kirsten Hall2021-03-03T14:22:00+00:00 Research by an international group of scientists provides evidence of covalent, dative and ionic character in one bond. Somewhat unifying a long-running bonding debate on the nature of bonding in a class of molecules called carbones, previously described as purely dative, the work suggests bonding in carbones sits somewhere between electron sharing bonds and dative bonds. The researchers say this provides a new distinction between coordinative bonding to carbon in the molecules studied and the more traditional coordination chemistry of transition metals and their ligands, which form purely dative bonds. Most will be familiar with carbon using its four valence electrons to form covalent bonds in its ubiquitous tetravalent form. Carbenes (CR