Final answer:
The question is asking to identify the shortest single bond in nitroglycerin, and the correct answer is the N-O bond. Due to differences in electronegativity and the presence of resonance structures in similar molecules, the N-O bond typically exhibits a partial double bond character, making it shorter than a pure single bond.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question concerns identifying which single bond present in nitroglycerin is most likely the shortest. Reflecting on chemical bonding and bond lengths, we can deduce that the bond length is influenced by the bond order; a higher bond order (such as a double bond) means a shorter bond length. In the case of nitroglycerin, the bond we are considering would be between atoms with different electronegativities, and the related bond length would typically be shorter than a bond between atoms of a similar electronegativity.
Between the options provided, B. N-O is the most likely answer. The reasoning behind this is that, typically, a double bond is shorter than a single bond, and experiments have shown that in resonance structures such as in the nitrite ion, which have one single and one double bond, the actual bond lengths are shown to be the same, and this bond length is shorter than an average single bond. However, nitroglycerin contains no N=O bond, but the N-O bond will still generally be shorter than C-C, O-O, or N-Glyceryl bonds due to the difference in electronegativity between the nitrogen and oxygen atoms, causing a partial double bond character by resonance.