The C−H bond is a bond

Covalent bond

A covalent bond is a form of chemical bonding that is characterized by the sharing of pairs of electrons between atoms. The stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces between atoms when they share electrons is known as covalent bonding....

 between carbon

Carbon

Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...

 and hydrogen

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...

 atoms, most commonly found in organic compound

Organic compound

An organic compound is any member of a large class of gaseous, liquid, or solid chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of carbon-containing compounds such as carbides, carbonates, simple oxides of carbon, and cyanides, as well as the...

s. Carbon–hydrogen bonds have a bond length

Bond length

- Explanation :Bond length is related to bond order, when more electrons participate in bond formation the bond will get shorter. Bond length is also inversely related to bond strength and the bond dissociation energy, as a stronger bond will be shorter...

 of about 1.09 Å

Ångström

The angstrom or ångström, is a unit of length equal to 1/10,000,000,000 of a meter . Its symbol is the Swedish letter Å....

 (1.09 × 10⁻¹⁰ m) and a bond energy

Bond energy

In chemistry, bond energy is the measure of bond strength in a chemical bond. It is the heat required to break one Mole of molecules into their individual atoms. For example, the carbon-hydrogen bond energy in methane E is the enthalpy change involved with breaking up one molecule of methane into...

 of about 413 kJ

Joule

The joule ; symbol J) is a derived unit of energy or work in the International System of Units. It is equal to the energy expended in applying a force of one newton through a distance of one metre , or in passing an electric current of one ampere through a resistance of one ohm for one second...

/mol

Mole (unit)

The mole is a unit of measurement used in chemistry to express amounts of a chemical substance, defined as an amount of a substance that contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 12 grams of pure carbon-12 , the isotope of carbon with atomic weight 12. This corresponds to a value...

 (see table below). Using Pauling's scale

Electronegativity

Electronegativity, symbol χ , is a chemical property that describes the tendency of an atom or a functional group to attract electrons towards itself. An atom's electronegativity is affected by both its atomic number and the distance that its valence electrons reside from the charged nucleus...

—C (2.5) and H (2.1)—the electronegativity difference between these two atoms is 0.4. Because of this small difference in electronegativities, the C−H bond is generally regarded as being non-polar. In structural formula

Structural formula

The structural formula of a chemical compound is a graphical representation of the molecular structure, showing how the atoms are arranged. The chemical bonding within the molecule is also shown, either explicitly or implicitly...

s of molecules, the hydrogen atoms are often omitted. Compound classes consisting solely of C−H bonds and C−C bonds are alkane

Alkane

Alkanes are chemical compounds that consist only of hydrogen and carbon atoms and are bonded exclusively by single bonds without any cycles...

s, alkene

Alkene

In organic chemistry, an alkene, olefin, or olefine is an unsaturated chemical compound containing at least one carbon-to-carbon double bond...

s, alkyne

Alkyne

Alkynes are hydrocarbons that have a triple bond between two carbon atoms, with the formula CnH2n-2. Alkynes are traditionally known as acetylenes, although the name acetylene also refers specifically to C2H2, known formally as ethyne using IUPAC nomenclature...

s, and aromatic hydrocarbon

Aromatic hydrocarbon

An aromatic hydrocarbon or arene is a hydrocarbon with alternating double and single bonds between carbon atoms. The term 'aromatic' was assigned before the physical mechanism determining aromaticity was discovered, and was derived from the fact that many of the compounds have a sweet scent...

s.

Reactions

The C−H bond in general is unreactive. In several compound classes, collectively called carbon acids, the C−H bond can be sufficiently acidic for proton removal. Unactivated C−H bonds are found in alkanes and are not adjacent to a heteroatom

Heteroatom

In organic chemistry, a heteroatom is any atom that is not carbon or hydrogen. Usually, the term is used to indicate that non-carbon atoms have replaced carbon in the backbone of the molecular structure...

 (O, N, Si, etc.). Such bonds usually only participate in radical substitution

Radical substitution

In organic chemistry, a radical substitution reaction is a substitution reaction involving free radicals as a reactive intermediate.The reaction always involves at least two steps, and possibly a third....

. Another reaction type involving C−H bonds is so-called C−H bond activation mediated by metals and carbene C−H insertion.

Although the C−H bond is one of the strongest, it varies over 30% in magnitude for fairly stable organic compounds, even in the absence of heteroatoms.

Bond	Hydrocarbon radical	Bond Dissociation Energy (kcal/mole)
CH3−H	Methyl	103
C2H5−H	Ethyl Ethyl group In chemistry, an ethyl group is an alkyl substituent derived from ethane . It has the formula -C2H5 and is very often abbreviated -Et.Ethylation is the formation of a compound by introduction of the ethyl functional group, C2H5....	98
(CH3)2HC−H	Isopropyl Isopropyl In organic chemistry, isopropyl is a propyl with a group attached to the secondary carbon. If viewed as a functional group an isopropyl is an organic compound with a propyl group attached at its secondary carbon.The bond is therefore on the middle carbon....	95
(CH3)3C−H	tert-Butyl	93
CH2=CH−H	vinyl Vinyl A vinyl compound is any organic compound that contains a vinyl group ,which are derivatives of ethene, CH2=CH2, with one hydrogen atom replaced with some other group...	112
C6H5−H	phenyl	110
CH2=CHCH2−H	Allyl Allyl An allyl group is a substituent with the structural formula H2C=CH-CH2R, where R is the connection to the rest of the molecule. It is made up of a methylene , attached to a vinyl group . The name is derived from the Latin word for garlic, Allium sativum. Theodor Wertheim isolated an allyl...	88
C6H5CH2−H	Benzyl Benzyl In organic chemistry, benzyl is the term used to describe the substituent or molecular fragment possessing the structure C6H5CH2-. Benzyl features a benzene ring attached to a CH2 group.-Nomenclature:...	85
OC4H7−H	tetrahydrofuranyl ThF Follicular B helper T cells , are antigen-experienced CD4+ T cells found in the B cell follicles of secondary lymphoid organs such as lymph nodes, spleens and Peyer's patches, and are identified by their constitutive expression of the B cell follicle homing receptor CXCR5...	92