text: The nature of chemical reactions and their description is one of the most fundamental problems in chemistry. The concepts of covalent and ionic bonds which emerged in the beginning of the 20th century specify the profound differences between their electronic structures. These differences, in turn, lead to dramatically different behavior of covalent and ionic compounds both in the solution and solid phase.  In the solid phase, ionic compounds, e.g. salts, are prone to formation of crystal lattices; in polar solvents, they dissociate into ions surrounded by solvate shells, thus rendering the solution highly ionic conductive.  In contrast to covalent bonds, ionic interactions demonstrate flexible, dynamic behavior, which allows tuning ionic compounds to obtain desired properties.