Perpendicular paramagnetic bond

A perpendicular paramagnetic bond is a type of chemical bond that does not exist under normal, atmospheric conditions. Such a phenomenon was first hypothesized through simulation to exist in the atmospheres of white dwarf stars{{Cite web|first1=Bob|last1=Yirka|date=July 20, 2012|url=https://phys.org/news/2012-07-chemists-molecular-bond-white-dwarf.html|title=Chemists discover new type of molecular bond near white dwarf stars|website=phys.org|language=en-us|access-date=2018-12-24}} whose magnetic fields, on the order of 105 teslas,{{cite journal |last1=Lange |first1=K. K. |last2=Tellgren |first2=E. I. |last3=Hoffmann |first3=M. R. |last4=Helgaker |first4=T. |title=A Paramagnetic Bonding Mechanism for Diatomics in Strong Magnetic Fields |journal=Science |date=19 July 2012 |volume=337 |issue=6092 |pages=327–331 |doi=10.1126/science.1219703|pmid=22822146|bibcode=2012Sci...337..327L |s2cid=5431912 }} could allow such interactions to exist. In a very strong magnetic field, excited electrons in molecules may be stabilized, causing these molecules to abandon their original orientations parallel to the magnetic field and instead lie perpendicular to it.

{{cite news

|first=Zeeya |last=Merali

|date=19 July 2012

|title=Magnetic fields boost atoms' bonding skills

|department=Nature News & Comment

|journal=Nature

|doi=10.1038/nature.2012.11045 |doi-access=free

|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2012.11045

|access-date=14 September 2021 |url-status=live

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120720200709/http://www.nature.com/news/stars-draw-atoms-closer-together-1.11045

|archive-date=20 July 2012

}}

Normally, at such intense temperatures as those near a white dwarf, more common molecular bonds cannot form and existing ones decompose.

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