The occurrence, geometries and energies of hydrogen bonds from N—H and O—H donors to the S acceptors of thiourea derivatives, thioamides and thiones are compared with data for their O analogues – ureas, amides and ketones. Geometrical data derived from the Cambridge Structural Database indicate that hydrogen bonds to the C=S acceptors are much weaker than those to their C=O counterparts: van der Waals normalized hydrogen bonds to O are shorter than those to S by ∼ 0.25 Å. Further, the directionality of the approach of the hydrogen bond with respect to S, defined by the C=S...H angle, is in the range 102–109°, much lower than the analogous C=O...H angle which lies in the range 127–140°. Ab initio calculations using intermolecular perturbation theory show good agreement with the experimental results: the differences in hydrogen-bond directionality are closely reproduced, and the interaction energies of hydrogen bonds to S are consistently weaker than those to O, by ∼ 12 kJ mol−1, for each of the three compound classes. There are no CSD examples of hydrogen bonds to aliphatic thiones, (Csp
3)2C=S, consistent with the near-equality of the electronegativities of C and S. Thioureas and thioamides have electron-rich N substituents replacing the Csp
3 atoms. Electron delocalization involving C=S and the N lone pairs then induces a significant >Cδ+=Sδ− dipole, which enables the formation of the medium-strength C=S...H bonds observed in thioureas and thioamides.
