---
title: "Heteronuclear molecule"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteronuclear_molecule"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T11:27:55.445271+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

A heteronuclear molecule is a molecule composed of atoms of more than one chemical element. For example, a molecule of water (H2O) is heteronuclear because it has atoms of two different elements, hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O).
Similarly, a heteronuclear ion is an ion that contains atoms of more than one chemical element. For example, the carbonate ion (CO2−3) is heteronuclear because it has atoms of carbon (C) and oxygen (O). The lightest heteronuclear ion is the helium hydride ion (HeH+). This is in contrast to a homonuclear ion, which contains all the same kind of atom, such as the dihydrogen cation, or atomic ions that only contain one atom such as the hydrogen anion (H−).


== References ==


== See also ==
Homonuclear molecule
Chemical compound