1. Ionic compounds like lithium chloride shows covalent character and it is soluble in organic solvents such as ethanol.
2. The partial covalent character in ionic compounds can be explained on the basis of a phenomenon called polarisation.
3. In an ionic compound, there is an electrostatic attractive force between the cation and anion. The positively charged cation attract the valence electrons of anion while repelling the nucleus.
This cause a distortion in the electron cloud of the anion and its electron density drills towards the cation, which results in some sharing of valence electrons between these ions. Thus, a partial covalent character is developed between them. This phenomenon is called polarisation.
4. Thus due to polarisation, ionic compounds shows covalent character.
