Merit of ground-state electronegativities; A reply to Comments on Introduction to the chemistry of fractionally charged atoms: Electronegativity

The arguments presented in the Comment by Liebman and Huheey are shown to be incorrect. The operational equivalence of Mulliken ground-state electronegativities and Pauling electronegativities is demonstrated for neutral atoms. It is shown that ground-state electronegativities and valence-state electronegativities for both neutral atoms and ions are also operationally equivalent. A single electronegativity scale based on Mulliken ground-state electronegativities may therefore be used for neutral atoms, ions, and fractionally charged atoms, as originally implied in the paper by Lackner and Zweig.