Negative σ-Holes on Fluorine in Molecules Revisited: Halogen Bonding or Counterintuitive, Anti-Electrostatic Interactions?

Pradeep R Varadwaj, Helder M Marques, Ireneusz Grabowski, Mohd Mudassir Husain

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in International journal of molecular sciences, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Pradeep R VaradwajInstitute of Physics, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy, and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, 87-100 Toruń, Poland.ORCID 0000-0002-7102-3133

Helder M MarquesMolecular Sciences Institute, School of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2050, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0003-1675-3835

Ireneusz GrabowskiInstitute of Physics, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy, and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, 87-100 Toruń, Poland.ORCID 0000-0002-5661-5659

Mohd Mudassir HusainDepartment of Applied Sciences and Humanities, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Halogen bonding develops when an electrophilic region associated with a covalently bonded halogen interacts attractively with a nucleophilic site on another same or different molecular entity. Here, we show that in many crystals in the Cambridge Structural Database, the intermolecular distances and directional features of F···F close contacts involve σ-hole-like regions on covalently bound fluorine. However, such interactions cannot readily be classified as classical halogen bonds, as the interacting fluorine atoms may lack a positive site (e.g., a positive σ-hole). In this context, we investigated directional F···F interactions involving HF, CH

Indexed as

FluorineHalogensModels, MolecularStatic ElectricityFluorineHalogensanti-electrostatic interactionschemical physics and physical chemistrycomputational chemistryenvironmental effectshalogen-centric interactionsintermolecular interactionsnegative–negative interactions

Identifiers

PMID42511859

DOI10.3390/ijms27146519

PMCPMC13410908

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.