Ionic-Covalent Character of Metal and Nonmetal Oxides

The acid-base properties of oxidic media are quantified in terms of the optical basicity concept, which serves to correlate many properties with chemical constitution. Optical basicity values, Lambda, have been assigned to 25 oxides such that they relate to Lambda for crystalline CaO being taken as unity. Since Lambda for an oxide is proportional to the degree of negative charge borne by the oxide-(-II) atom or ion, it follows that optical basicity should go hand-in-hand with the ionic/covalent nature of the cation-oxide-(-II) bonding. Unfortunately, this assumption produces many anomalies and trends that do not fit normal inorganic trends. The problem is resolved by adjusting the influence of ionic forms to the bonding by taking into account the heats of formation. In contrast to the (Pauling) electronegativity treatment of oxides, this procedure allows assignment of percentage ionicity to the bonding, and the trends in these in the Periodic Table are as expected for inorganic oxides.