Catenation

A remarkable property of carbon is its ability to form compounds in which carbon atoms are linked to one another in chains or rings. This property of forming chains of identical atoms is called catenation. The property of catenation depends upon the strength of atom-atom bond. The greater the strength of the atom-atom bond, greater is the extent of catenation. The elements of group 14 exhibit catenation. It is most extensive in the case of carbon because C-C bond is very strong. On going down the group, the atom-atom bond strength decreases and hence the extent of catenation also decreases. It varies in the order: C > > Si > Ge Sn > > Pb