CHEMISTRY (STM 128)

LESSON 1: CHEMICAL BONDING

Chemical Bonding – a bond that occurs between elements
Two Types of Ionic Bonding:
1. Ionic Bonding – ionic compound results when a metal reacts with a nonmetal.
Electrons are transferred.

Characteristics of Ionic Bonding:

 are always solids at room temperature
 conduct electricity when dissolved in water or in the molten state
 have high melting and boiling points
 are brittle
 are usually white and crystalline

2. Covalent Bonding – a covalent bond results when electrons are shared by nuclei.

Octet Rule – refers to the tendency of atoms to prefer to have eight electrons in the valence shell.
When atoms have fewer than eight electrons, they tend to react and form more stable
compounds.
Lewis Electron Dot-Symbols – is a symbol in which the electrons in the valence shell of an atom
or ion are represented by dots placed around the letter symbol of the element.
Lewis Dot Electron Formulas – is an illustration used to represent that transfer of electrons
during the formation of an ionic bond.
Ionic Bonding:
 The magnesium has two electrons to give whereas the fluroines have only one
“vacancy”

Covalent Bonding:
 The shared electrons in H spend part of the time in the region around each atom

– In this sense, each atom in H2 has a helium configuration.

 The formation of a bond between H and Cl to give an HCl molecule can be
represented in a similar way
In determining the polarity of a compound:
 Electronegative difference
o 0.4 and below – non – polar covalent bonding
o 0.5 to 1.6 – polar covalent bonding
o 1.7 above – ionic bonding
 Molecular geometry of a compound using Lewis structures

Lewis Structure – formulas such as these are referred to as Lewis electron- dot formulas or Lewis
structures

How to Write Lewis Structure:

Step 1: Find the total number of valence electrons of all atoms in the molecule or ion.
Step 2: Look for the central atom. The atom with the highest covalency number is the
central atom.
Step 3: Draw a line between each pair of connected atoms to represent the two electrons
in a covalent bond.
Step 4: Add lone pairs so that each peripheral atom (except H) connected to the central
atom gets an octet.
Step 5: Place all remaining electrons on the central atom.
Step 6: If the central atom does not yet have an octet after all the electrons have been
assigned, take a lone pair from neighboring atom and form a multiple bond to the central
 atom.

Examples:
1. Sulfite ion, SO32-
Step 1: Central atom = S
Step 2. Count the valence electrons
S=6
3 x O = 3 x 6 = 18
Negative charge = 2
TOTAL = 6 + 18 + 2 = 26 e- or 13 pairs
Step 3: Form Sigma bonds

10 pairs of electrons are left.

Step 4 & 5: Remaining pairs become lone pairs, first on the outside atoms, then
on central atoms

2. Carbon Dioxide, CO2

 Central atom = C
 Valence electrons = 16 or 8 pairs
 Form sigma bonds.
 Place lone pair on outer atoms

 To give C an octet, form DOUBLE BONDS between C and O

Theory of Resonance – according to the theory of resonance, many molecules and ions are best
described by writing two or more Lewis structures and considering the real molecule or ion to be
a hybrid of these structures.

Shape of Molecules – molecular shapes can be predicted by noting how many bonds and electron
pairs surround individual atoms and applying what is called the valence-shell electron-pair
repulsion (VSEPR) model. The basic idea of VSEPR model is that the negatively charged clouds
of electron in bonds and lone pair repel each other therefore tends to keep apart as far as possible
causing molecules to assume specific shape.
Steps in Applying VSEPR model:
Step 1: Draw a Lewis structure of the molecule, and identify the atom whose geometry is
of interest
Step 2: Count the number of electron charge clouds surrounding the atom of interest
Step 3: Predict molecular shape by assuming that the charge clouds orient in space so that
they are as far away from one another as possible
Examples:
1. Two Pairs of Electron
 BeCl
 180
 Linear

2. Three Pairs of Electron

 BF
 120
 Trigonal Planar

3. Four Pairs of Electron

 CH
 109.5
 Tetrahedral

Dipole Moments
 occur when there is a separation of charge. They can occur between two ions in an ionic
bond or between atoms in a covalent bond; dipole moments arise from differences in
electronegativity. The larger the difference in electronegativity, the larger the dipole
moment.
 When atoms in a molecule share electrons unequally, they create what is called a dipole
moment. This occurs when one atom is more electronegative than another, resulting in
that atom pulling more tightly on the shared pair of electrons, or when one atom has a
lone pair of electrons and the difference of electronegativity vector points in the same
way.
  One of the most common examples is the water molecule, made up of one oxygen atom
and two hydrogen atoms. The differences in electronegativity and lone electrons give
oxygen a partial negative charge and each hydrogen a partial positive charge.

To consider a compound polar:

 Compound must have lone pair in the central atom
 The compound should be asymmetrical (in other words, their must be an electron cloud
in the compound)