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2) Calculate N, The number of valence electrons needed by all atoms in the molecule or ion to
achieve noble gas configurations. DO NOT INCLUDE CHARGES HERE. This value is the
value needed for every atom in the structure to leave without bonding to any others, but still
have a noble gas configuration
For H2SO4: N = 18 (S atom) + 4 8 (O atoms) + 2 2 (H atoms) = 8 + 32 + 4 = 44 e- needed.
O O O
For H2SO4: H O S O H or H O S O H or H O S O H
O O O
-2 -2 -2
2 O S O O S O O S O
For SO :
3 O or O or O
Note when putting in your bonding and lone pair electrons, if there is more than one way
of placing the electrons, use the most symmetrical arrangements of them:
For CO2: N = 8 + 8 + 8 = 24; A = 4 + 6 + 6 = 16; S = 24 16 = 8, (4 bonding pairs);
U = A # in bonds = 16 8 = 8, (4 sets of lone pairs):
NO (unsymmetrical) O C O
YES (symmetrical) O C O
7) Some compounds or ions contain an odd number of electrons. It is usually best to place the
odd electron as a lone electron, not as a bonding electron. With an odd number of electrons,
we usually have at least one atom which ends up with less than an octet of electrons the less
electronegative element should be the one with less than an octet. I.e., the more
electronegative atoms will fill their octets first, since they have stronger affinities of electrons.
Nitrous Oxide: NO N = 16; A = 11; S = 5; U = 6 this would predict this structure:
N O (Note that this puts 9 electrons around O and 7 around N not acceptable!)
or
N O (Note that this puts 7 electrons around O and 9 around N not acceptable!)
[Oxygen and Nitrogen can NEVER exceed their octets! The next level above the valence level
would be the 3s level, which involves an increase in the principle quantum number, n, and thus
is at a much higher energy.]
Example 1: There are 3 different Lewis diagrams for the thiocyanate anion: SCN ion, shown
below. The formal charges on each atom are shown under it.
[S C N ] [ S C N ] [ S C N ]
0 0 1 1 0 0 +1 0 2
To demonstrate, lets do the formal charges in the 1st diagram: For S: FC = 6 (4) (4) = 0.
For C: FC = 4 (8) 0 = 0. For N: FC = 5 (4) (4) = 1.
O O O O
O Cl O O Cl O O Cl O O Cl O
Cl = +2 Cl = +1 Cl = 0 Cl = 1
O = 1 O = 1 O = 1 =O = 0
=O = 0 =O = 0
The first drawing is the one we would predict using the rules for Lewis structures all its atoms
have complete octets. However, it has very unlikely formal charges, due to the large magnitude
formal charge on Cl, Thus, we would reject this structure using Rule 2. When we apply Rule 3, we
-8- Raynor: 8/16/2017
find that Structure 2 is also rejected, due to large charge differences along the ClO bonds, (a
difference of 2). Structures 3 and 4 are equivalent to one another, except as to which element
carries the 1 formal charge. Since O is more electronegative than Cl, Structure 3 is most likely,
(and Structure 4 is next most likely). We would expect that the bond lengths in ClO3 should be
approximately 2/3 Cl-O double bond and 1/3 Cl-O single bond, once all 3 resonance forms for
Structure 3 are considered.
Let us take another look at the sulfate anion, SO42. The formal charges for the Lewis diagram we
derived earlier are as follows: +2 on S and 1 on each O. This gives a very unfavorable set of
formal charges. Since S can exceed its octet, lets consider what happens to the formal charges as
we move a lone pair off of an O atom into the bond with S. Note that O will then still possess 8
electrons in its vicinity, but S will possess 2 more for each double bond formed:
L
M
O O 2-
L O O 2-
L O O 2-
L O O L2-
O O 2-
For SO42-:
MO S OP
P M
MO S OP
P M
MO S OP
P M
MO S P
OPMMO S OP
P
M
NO P
Q M
NO P
Q M
NO P
Q M
NO P
QMNO P
Q
FCs: O: all 1 O: 1 O: 1 O: 1 O=: 0
S: +2 O=: 0 O=: 0 O=: 0 S: +2
S: +1 S: 0 S: +1
Note that the best structure is the middle one the one with 2 double bonds and 2 single bonds.
The 1st and 5th are rejected using Rule 2 and the 2nd and 4th are rejected by Rule 3.
Resonance Structures:
When a structure contains 2 or more identical atoms involved in different bonding environments,
then more than one equivalent Lewis drawing can be made. For example, consider our chosen
structure for ClO3 from above. There are 3 different drawings we can make, all of which involve 2
C=O type bonds and 1 CO type bond. These are called resonance structures and we represent the
final structure by showing all three with double-headed arrows between them:
O O O
O Cl O O Cl O O Cl O
The actual structure of this ion involves 3 identical ClO bonds, each of which is 2/3 of a double
bond and 1/3 of a single bond, i.e., a 5/3 bond. What this means in reality is that the expected length
of the bond is approximately 2/3 of a double bond plus 1/3 of a single bond. [Note: to calculate the
average size of a bond simply do the following: choose any of the bonds involved in resonance,
(i.e., the left-most O-Cl bond, or the top one or the right-hand one), and add up the number of
bonds it contains in each structure. Then, divide by the total number of resonance structures. In the
example above, if we choose the left-hand O-Cl bond, we find it has 2 bonds in the 1st structure, 1
in the 2nd and 2 in the third. This adds up to 5 bonds total in 3 structures, so we divide 5 by 3
predicting that each bond is a 5/3 bond. We get the same outcome regardless of which bond we
follow through the structures.
L
M
O O
P L
M
2-
O O
P L
2-
M
O O
P L
2-
M
O O
P L
M
2-
O O
P L
M
2-
O O 2-
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