Homolysis

In chemistry, homolysis or homolytic rupture is the name given to the breaking of a chemical bond in which each atom participating in the bond retains an electron from the pair that constituted the bond, forming two radicals.

The energy required to carry out the cleavage is known as "the energy of homolytic bond dissociation" and it can be provided, for example, by means of ultraviolet radiation. Ex:

H3C− − CH3{displaystyle H_{3}C-CH_{3}}} + Energy Δ Δ H3C⋅ ⋅ +⋅ ⋅ CH3{displaystyle longrightarrow H_{3}Ccdot +cdot CH_{3}}}

Other types of bond breaking, such as heterolysis, imply that one of the species formed retains the two electrons that were part of the bond, leaving it with a net negative electrical charge while the other species remains with a positive charge.