Adenosine deaminase Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-11-05
Adenosine deaminase catalyzes conversion of adenosine and water into inosine and Ammonia. Its zinc-containing active site activates water and stabilizes the reacting configuration; proton transfers assist addition and leaving-group departure. Mutation kinetics constrain catalytic roles but do not uniquely locate every proton.
Albuminoid ammonia Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
The historical operational fraction of Ammonia released by alkaline permanganate after preliminary removal of free Ammonia. It is neither a specific albumen measurement nor necessarily all organic nitrogen.
Amide ion Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-10-31
The anion is the conjugate base of Ammonia. It is chemically distinct from an organic amide functional group and can deprotonate suitable carbon acids.
Ammonia Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-11-05
Ammonia is , a pyramidal molecule with a nitrogen lone pair. The lone pair can accept a proton to form ammonium or coordinate a Lewis acid.
In water, the Ammonia-ammonium equilibrium affects pH. Molecular Ammonia and the ammonium ion therefore have different charge states and should not be treated as interchangeable species.[ref]
https://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/cbook.cgi?ID=C7664417&Units=SI. NIST Chemistry WebBook: ammonia, formula and molecular identity
[ref]
Chemistry 2e by Paul Flowers and others. Chapter14, Acid-Base Equilibria: ammonia-ammonium equilibrium and weak bases
Ammonia borane Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-10-31
Ammoniacal liquor 2026-10-31
Ammonia inversion transition Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-31
In Ammonia, the nitrogen chemical atom can lie on either side of the plane of the three hydrogen chemical atoms. Quantum tunnelling couples these configurations; the resulting pair of energy levels permits an electric dipole transition. This geometrical inversion is distinct from population inversion, which concerns how many molecules occupy each level.[ref]
For an idealized pair of energy levels with equal quantum degeneracy, the Boltzmann distribution gives at positive temperature . A warm source therefore supplies upper-state molecules together with an unwanted lower-state population. Selecting the former can produce population inversion in the transmitted beam without exciting each transmitted molecule during selection. The energy per net downward transition isHere is the Planck constant. Taking the reported as a rounded input gives . This calculation is a conversion of the reported frequency, not a new measurement of the ammonia inversion transition.
Ammonia liniment Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
Ammonia maser Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-31
An ammonia maser uses an Ammonia molecular beam, maser state selection and a maser cavity to obtain amplification or sustained microwave oscillation. In the 1954 experiment by James Power Gordon, Herbert Jack Zeiger and Charles Hard Townes, a quadrupolar static electric field focused upper-state molecules toward the cavity and deflected lower-state molecules away. The reported ammonia inversion transition lies near .[ref]
Molecular Microwave Oscillator and New Hyperfine Structure in the Microwave Spectrum of NH3 by James Power Gordon and others. pp. 282–283, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 caption; 23 870 Mc/sec
Ammonia molecular orbital diagram Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-10-31
In pyramidal Ammonia, the hydrogen symmetry orbitals span of the C3v molecular point group. Nitrogen and both have symmetry and span . In the planar D3h molecular point group, these become , and , respectively, while the hydrogen combinations span . Thus the planar out-of-plane lone pair is a symmetry-isolated nonbonding orbital; pyramidalization permits mixing with the other functions.[ref]
Ammonification Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
Ammonification converts nitrogen in organic compounds to Ammonia or ammonium during their breakdown. For example, microbial degradation of dead organisms can release the nitrogen that had been incorporated in amino acids.
Ammonification differs from nitrogen fixation, which begins with molecular nitrogen, and from nitrification, which oxidizes reduced inorganic nitrogen. Separating these transformations explains how decomposers reconnect living material to the nutrient pools used by primary producers.[ref]
Ammonium Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-10-31
Ammonium chloride Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-11-05
Aron Walsh Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-11-05
A lone pair is an electron pair assigned to one chemical atom without a connecting line to another chemical atom in a Lewis structure. It is usually shown as two dots. Water has two lone pairs on oxygen, accounting for four valence electrons; Ammonia has one lone pair on nitrogen, accounting for two. In , each oxygen has two lone pairs, and carbon has none.
Arsine Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
Arsine is , a molecular hydride of arsenic with a pyramidal arrangement of three hydrogen atoms around arsenic. It is the arsenic analogue of Ammonia, although their chemical properties differ substantially.
Bond pair Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-31
A bond pair is an electron pair allocated to a connection between two chemical atoms in a Lewis structure. A single line stands for one bond pair, or two electrons. A double connection contains two bond pairs, or four electrons; a triple connection contains three bond pairs, or six electrons. A bond pair is shared bookkeeping for the combined arrangement, rather than two distinguishable electrons each permanently owned by one endpoint.
In water, two bond pairs use of the eight valence electrons. In Ammonia, three bond pairs use of the eight valence electrons. In , each C=O connection contains two bond pairs, so there are four bond pairs in the entire carbon dioxide molecule. Counting connections and counting bond pairs therefore give different answers for multiple connections.
The same bond pair is treated differently for different questions: both endpoints count its two electrons for the octet rule, whereas each endpoint receives just one electron for formal charge. Neither convention asserts equal physical electron density at the endpoints. For electronic shapes, occupancy, and energy, see molecular orbital theory rather than treating a bond pair line as an entire wavefunction.
Covalent bond Created 2026-10-13 Updated 2026-10-31
A covalent bond joins chemical atoms through shared electrons. In the familiar two-centre description, one bond pair contributes to a connection between two atomic nuclei. Sharing means that the electrons belong to the combined arrangement and interact with both atomic nuclei; it does not mean that identifiable dots shuttle along drawn paths. The [ref] emphasizes the concentration of electrons between atomic nuclei and the resulting attraction and characteristic separation. The pair picture is especially useful for simple molecules, but is not a universal description of every covalent bond.
A Lewis structure turns this picture into practical bookkeeping. Count the valence electrons, indicate which chemical atoms are connected, and allocate two electrons to each line. A bond pair is shared; a lone pair is assigned to one chemical atom without connecting it to another. A double line represents two bond pairs. Dots and lines record allocations, rather than positions, trajectories, or a measured three-dimensional arrangement. [ref]
https://openstax.org/books/chemistry-2e/pages/7-3-lewis-symbols-and-structures. Flowers et al., Chemistry 2e, Lewis symbols and structures
For molecular hydrogen, , each neutral hydrogen chemical atom supplies one valence electron. Thus valence electrons make one bond pair, represented by , with no lone pairs. Each hydrogen counts the same shared pair when checking its two-electron arrangement. The molecule still contains two electrons, not four: counting a pair around both endpoints does not create extra electrons.
For water, , neutral oxygen supplies six valence electrons and the two hydrogen chemical atoms supply one each: . Two O–H connections consume four electrons as two bond pairs. The remaining electrons form two lone pairs on oxygen. Around oxygen, the two bond pairs and two lone pairs count as eight electrons; each hydrogen counts two. The whole water molecule has ten electrons, because two additional oxygen electrons are omitted from this valence electron drawing.
For Ammonia, , the total is valence electrons: five from nitrogen and three from hydrogen. Three N–H connections use six electrons as three bond pairs, leaving two electrons as one lone pair on nitrogen. Thus water and Ammonia have the same total of eight valence electrons but different allocations: two plus two pairs versus three plus one. This small calculation already distinguishes their connectivity without a detailed quantum mechanics calculation.
Lewis structures count bond pairs and lone pairs in molecular hydrogen, water, Ammonia, and molecular oxygen; schematic layouts do not specify molecular shapes
. Details. For molecular oxygen, , valence electrons give the conventional Lewis structure. Its two bond pairs use four electrons, leaving eight as four lone pairs, two on each oxygen. Each oxygen consequently counts eight electrons locally. However, actual molecular oxygen has two unpaired electrons and exhibits paramagnetism: it is attracted into a stronger magnetic field. The all-paired Lewis structure cannot capture this observation. Molecular orbital theory describes the unpaired electrons; the successful counting diagram alone is insufficient. [ref]
Why does sharing produce a stable separation? For molecular hydrogen, the electronic arrangement responds as the atomic nuclei approach. Their interactions can lower the energy, but pushing them too close raises it. A curve of potential energy against separation therefore has a local minimum, rather than falling forever. Attraction and repulsion balance there. This is a statement about the combined system, not a claim that stationary electrons sit between otherwise motionless atomic nuclei. [ref]
The following Morse potential makes those features calculable. Set , where is separation and its equilibrium value, and let be the well depth. With the self-chosen parameter , define the dimensionless quantitiesHere is the net separating force, obtained from the derivative of the potential energy. Positive pushes the chemical atoms apart; negative draws them together. These are illustrative curves with in chosen units, not measured molecular hydrogen data or fitted parameters.
Illustrative dimensionless Morse potential and its force: a stable local minimum, short-distance repulsion, and separation toward zero potential energy
. Details. At , and . The second derivative is , confirming a local minimum. At , ; at , . As increases without bound, approaches zero from below. Thus moving from the well bottom to separated chemical atoms requires an increase of in this model's potential energy. An actual quantum mechanics dissociation threshold also depends on the initial motion of the atomic nuclei, so the well depth alone is not every measured dissociation energy.
The force panel separates into a positive term and a negative term . At they are and , cancelling exactly; nearer separations favour the positive term. These are algebraic components of the chosen Morse potential, not separately measured microscopic forces. Their usefulness is to show how a balance arises from the slope of one energy curve.
The beauty of the pair picture is its economy: a few marks summarize connectivity and constrain what a proposed molecule can contain. Its historical anchor is Gilbert N. Lewis's 1916 paper [ref]
https://doi.org/10.1021/ja02261a002. The Atom and the Molecule, Journal of the American Chemical Society 38, 762–785
, also available as an [ref]https://zenodo.org/records/1429068. archived original paper
. Lewis structures remain useful because they answer counting questions quickly; quantum mechanics supplies the richer account when energy, shape, or unpaired electrons matter. Dinitrogen 2026-11-05
Dinitrogen is the diatomic molecule , consisting of two nitrogen atoms joined by a strong triple bond. It is the principal molecular form of nitrogen in Earth's atmosphere. A nitrogen atom incorporated in a protein belongs to the same chemical element, but is not a dinitrogen molecule.[ref]
Chemistry 2e by Paul Flowers and others. §18.7, atmospheric N2 and its nitrogen–nitrogen triple bond
The reactionillustrates the bookkeeping: one dinitrogen molecule supplies the two nitrogen atoms in two Ammonia molecules. Breaking and replacing its strong bond requires suitable reaction pathways and conditions. Its abundance therefore does not mean that organisms can automatically use it as a source of chemically available nitrogen.[ref]
Chemistry 2e by Paul Flowers and others. §18.7, low reactivity, ammonia synthesis and biological nitrogen fixation
Electron pair geometry Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-31
Electron pair geometry describes the arrangement of all electron domains in the VSEPR model, including lone pairs. Molecular geometry instead describes the arrangement of chemical atoms. Four domains have a tetrahedral ideal arrangement, but keeping only the bonded neighbours gives the different molecular geometries of methane, Ammonia and water.
GaN blue LED development Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-31
Isamu Akasaki chose metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy and sapphire, which tolerated hot Ammonia. Large lattice mismatch hindered film growth. In 1985, Hiroshi Amano and Isamu Akasaki's group developed an aluminium nitride epitaxial buffer layer deposited before hotter gallium nitride growth. The buffer supplies initial growth sites; growing islands join into a continuous film. It improves growth without making the lattices identical. Isamu Akasaki separately credits Shuji Nakamura's 1991 gallium nitride buffer.[ref]
https://www.kapitza.ras.ru/~glazkov/students/Nobel-akasaki-lecture.pdf. §§3.2–4.2, pp. 13–20, Figs. 7–11: growth sequence and microscopy
The 1986 growth paper reports a vertical metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy reactor, source gases mixed just before delivery to slanted sapphire, and subsequent gallium nitride growth over aluminium nitride. Surface microscopy, X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence tested different aspects of the result. Buffered and unbuffered growth supplied the comparison. Its reported preparation conditions should not be replaced by one universal buffer temperature: the later lecture's account of the first low-temperature trial and the paper's parameter study describe different stages of development.[ref]
Metalorganic vapor phase epitaxial growth of a high quality GaN film using an AlN buffer layer by Hiroshi Amano and others. p. 353, Fig. 1 and Table I; p. 354, surface and diffraction comparisons
A magnesium acceptor impurity in gallium nitride accepts a valence band electron, leaving a mobile electron hole. Hydrogen passivation of magnesium acceptors in gallium nitride suppresses this activity. Post-growth activation restores existing impurities' electrical activity; ionization of active acceptor impurities supplies mobile electron holes. Adding magnesium alone is insufficient.[ref]
In 1989, Hiroshi Amano, Masahiro Kito, Kazumasa Hiramatsu and Isamu Akasaki obtained p-type semiconductor conduction in magnesium-doped gallium nitride using low-energy electron beam irradiation. Hiroshi Amano recalls initially resistive samples, an unreliable hot-probe test, then Masahiro Kito's Hall effect confirmation. A junction irradiated in an M-shaped region emitted in that pattern. Treatment, carrier-sign measurement and spatial emission supplied different evidence. Earlier zinc-doped samples brightened under irradiation without becoming p-type semiconductors: brightness alone did not prove the carrier sign.[ref]
https://journals.aps.org/rmp/pdf/10.1103/RevModPhys.87.1133. §V, pp. 1135–1136, Figs. 3–4; authors of 1989 paper in references, p. 1137
Shuji Nakamura, Takashi Mukai, Masayuki Senoh and Naruhito Iwasa's 1992 thermal-activation paper established another route using annealing in nitrogen. Their companion study compared already conducting films heated in nitrogen with films heated in Ammonia: the latter became highly resistive again. Its hydrogen-complex explanation connected this atmosphere dependence to acceptor impurity passivation. These are thermal treatment and atmosphere comparisons, distinct from the earlier electron beam intervention; neither observation alone images an individual hydrogen complex.[ref]
Thermal Annealing Effects on P-Type Mg-Doped GaN Films by Shuji Nakamura and others. abstract: nitrogen annealing above 700 degrees Celsius and electrical changes
[ref]Hole Compensation Mechanism of P-Type GaN Films by Shuji Nakamura and others. p. 1258, abstract and §§1–2: activation history, nitrogen/ammonia comparison and hydrogenation hypothesis
Shuji Nakamura's two-flow metalorganic chemical vapor deposition reactor, gallium nitride buffer, thermal activation and improved indium gallium nitride growth enabled bright double heterostructure devices, followed by thinner quantum well devices.[ref]
The original 1994 paper by Shuji Nakamura, Takashi Mukai and Masayuki Senoh describes a sapphire/gallium nitride-buffer device with zinc-doped indium gallium nitride emission and aluminium gallium nitride confinement. After nitrogen annealing, etching exposed the n-side for a separate contact. At room temperature, varied forward electric currents gave emission spectra and optical-output curves alongside a current-voltage characteristic. At : output, peak wavelength, terminal electric potential difference. The peak stayed nearly fixed across the current series. The paper omits a complete calibrated collection apparatus; comparisons with earlier devices change several preparation details.[ref]
Candela-class high-brightness InGaN⁄AlGaN double-heterostructure blue-light-emitting diodes by Shuji Nakamura and others. pp. 1687–1688, fabrication and Figs. 1–4


