What is the maximum number of atoms that can be bonded in an ionic bond

In ionic bonding, generally, there is no strict "maximum number" of atoms that can be bonded as in a typical covalent bond, where you can say a carbon atom can form four bonds, or an oxygen atom can form two. Instead, ionic bonds form between ions—charged particles formed when an atom (or group of atoms) gains or loses electrons. When an atom loses an electron, it becomes a positively charged ion, or cation; when it gains one or more electrons, it becomes a negatively charged ion, or anion.

Now, in ionic compounds, these ions come together in a ratio that balances the total positive and negative charges in the crystal. This means you could have a simple binary ionic compound like sodium chloride (NaCl) or a more complex compound such as calcium fluoride (CaF2), where one calcium ion bonds with two fluoride ions. If you have ions with charges greater than 1, like magnesium (Mg^2+) and sulfur (S^2−), they can still form a 1:1 compound (MgS), because the charges are balanced.

Ionic compounds typically form a crystalline lattice structure, meaning that each positive ion is surrounded by negative ions and each negative ion is surrounded by positive ions in a 3D repetitive pattern. So in that sense, each ion is 'bonded' to potentially several oppositely charged ions within the lattice, rather than just one as in a simple 'bond' in covalent compounds.