Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having more valences or bonds than the normal or expected number.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective chemistry having a higher than normal valence

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From hyper- + -valent

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Examples

  • A series of logical steps, originally discussed as postings and comments to two blogs, led to the outcome described here of a central hypervalent atom bound on one face by a small cyclic carbon ligand, with the other free face having an interaction to a helium atom with the topological properties of a charge-shift rather than a covalent bond.

    Naturejobs - All Jobs Henry S. Rzepa 2010

  • These nanoparticles are selectively oxidized by the hypervalent iodine species PhICl

    Naturejobs - All Jobs Cole A. Witham 2009

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