The Letter "B" in Chemistry

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Back-Side Attack - A nucleophilic attack on a carbon that occurs on the opposite side of the carbon to which the leaving group is bonded.

Baeyer-Villager Oxidation - An oxidation of an aldehyde or ketone using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) or a peroxyacid to form a carboxylic acid or ester, respectively.

Banana Bond - The weaker sigma bonds in a ring that results from orbitals overlapping at an angle rather than head on.

Band Model - A molecular model for metals in which electrons are described as traveling around the metal crystalline structure in molecular orbitals derived from the valence shell atomic orbitals of the metal atoms.

Barometer - A tool used for measuring atmospheric pressure

Base Catalyst - A catalyst used to increase the rate of reaction by removing a proton.

Base Peak - The peak with the greatest abundance in a mass spectrum.

Battery - A group of galvanic cells connected in series

Bending Vibration - A vibration that does not occur along the line of a bond. This particular type of vibration results in changing bond angles.

Benzylic Carbon - An sp3 hybridized carbon bonded to a benzene ring.

Benzylic Cation - A compound with a positive charge on a benzylic carbon

Benzyne Intermediate - A compound in which one of the double bonds in benzene is replaced with a triple bond

Beta Particle - An electron produced the process of radioactive decay

Bicyclic Compound - A compound that contains two rings that share at least one carbon

Bidentate Ligand - Literally this means two toothed; meaning that the ligand is able to form two bonds to a metal ion

Bifunctional Molecule - A molecule that contains two functional groups

Bile Acids - Steroids that act as emulsifying agents to facilitate the digestion of water - insoluble compounds.

Bimolecular Reaction - A reaction whose rate of reaction depends on the concentrations of two reactants.

Bimolecular Step – An elementary step, in a reaction mechanism, that involves the collision of two molecules

Binary Compound - A compound made up of two elements

Binding Energy - The amount of energy required to break a nucleus into its component nucleons... This value is equal to the mass defect of the nucleus

Biodegradable Polymer - A polymer which can be broken down by an enzyme catalyzed reaction

Biopolymer - A polymer that is synthesized in nature

Biotin - A coenzyme required by enzymes that catalyze the carboxylation of a carbon that is adjacent to a keto or ester group.

Birch Reduction - A reaction that partially reduces benzene to 1,4 - cyclohexadiene.

Block Copolymer - A copolymer in which there are "blocks" of each of the two component monomer

Blue Shift - A shift to a shorter wavelength

Boat Conformation - A higher energy conformation of cyclohexane, relative to the chair conformer, that bears a rough resemblance to a boat

Boiling Point - The temperature at which the vapor pressure from a liquid equals the pressure of the atmosphere.

Boiling Point Elevation - The increase of the boiling point of a solvent resulting from the addition of a non - volatile solute.

Bond Energy - The amount of energy required to break a given bond homolytically. This value also has implications for the strength of the bond between two atoms; the higher the value the stronger the bond and the shorter the bond length.

Bond Length - The average internulcear distance between the nuclei of two atoms resulting in a minimum energy. The shorter the length the stronger the bond and the greater the bond order.

Bond Order - The difference between the number of bonding electrons and the number of antibonding electrons, divided by two. The greater the bond order the stronger the bond strength and shorter the bond length.

Bonding Molecular Orbital - A molecular orbital that results from the interaction of two in - phase atomic orbitals. Electrons in a bonding molecular orbital increase the bond strength.

Bonding Electron Pair - An electron pair found in the space between two bonding atoms.

Boyle's Law - The volume of a given sample of gas at constant temperature varies inversely with the pressure.

Bridged Bicyclic Compound - A bicyclic compound in which rings share two non - adjacent carbons.

Bronsted - Lowry Acid - A substance that donates proton (H+)

Bronsted - Lowry Base - A substance that accepts protons (H+)

Buffer Capacity - The ability of a buffered solution to absorb protons or hydroxide ions without a significant change in pH.

Buffer Solution - A solution made up a weak acid or base and its conjugate salt. A buffer solution resists a change in its pH upon addition of basic or acidic solution. The extent of buffering capability depends on the buffer capacity of the solution.