Title: electron attachment
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - electron attachment
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.E01979
Status: current

Definition
The transfer of an electron to a molecular entity, resulting in a molecular entity of (algebraically) increased negative charge. It is not an attachment. 

Related Terms
- attachment: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/A00512
- molecular entity: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/M03986
- oxidation (Def. 1): https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/O04362
- reduction: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/R05222

Sources
- PAC, 1991, 63, 1541. 'Recommendations for nomenclature and symbolism for mass spectroscopy (including an appendix of terms used in vacuum technology). (Recommendations 1991)' on page 1547 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199163101541)
- PAC, 1994, 66, 1077. 'Glossary of terms used in physical organic chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1994)' on page 1109 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199466051077)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/E01979/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/E01979/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/E01979/xml

Citation: Citation: 'electron attachment' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.E01979
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .
Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-06-10T06:56:37+00:00