CHAPTER 5

CHEMICAL BONDING

➢ CHEMICAL BOND
- force that holds oppositely charged ions together
- force that holds atoms together in a compound

TYPES OF CHEMICAL BONDS

1. IONIC OR ELECTROVALENT BOND

- results from the attraction of oppositely charged ions
- formed when metals combine with nonmetals
- formed when there is a transfer of electrons from the outermost shell of one
atom to the outermost shell of another person.

2. COVALENT BOND
- formed when two nonmetal atoms combine to form a molecule and each atom
can achieve a noble gas outer electronic configuration.
- formed when two atoms share one or more pairs of electrons such that each
atom can attain an octet of electrons.

• SINGLE COVALENT BOND – bond formed when two atoms share one
pair of electrons
• DOUBLE COVALENT BOND – bond formed when two atoms share two
pairs of electrons
• TRIPLE COVALENT BOND – bond formed when two atoms share three
pairs of electrons

➢ LEWIS ELECTRON DOT SYMBOL

It is possible to divide the electrons in an atom into two groups, the valence
electrons which are involved in chemical bonding and the core electrons which do not.
For the main group elements, the valence electrons are the s and p electrons in the
outermost shell. Core electrons include electrons from inner shells, which have a
configuration identical to that of the noble gas preceding the element in the periodic table.
In addition, the core electrons include electrons in the filled d orbitals for atoms in Groups
IIIA to VIIA of the later periods. For transition elements, the valence electrons are those in
the ns and (n-1)d orbitals, and the core electrons are those with a noble gas configuration
in the underlying shells.
The concept of valence electrons was first introduced by Gilbert N. Lewis. He
assumed that each noble gas atom had a completely filled outermost shell, which he
regarded as a stable configuration because of the lack of reactivity of the noble gas.
Since the electrons that are involved in chemical bonding are the valence electrons,
the American chemist G.N. Lewis suggested a simple way of showing the valence electrons
known as the Lewis electron dot symbols or merely Lewis symbols. The Lewis symbol
for an element consists of the chemical symbol for the element plus a dot for each valence
electron.
 The dots are placed on the four sides of the symbol; to top, the bottom, the left and
right sides. Each side can accommodate up to two electrons. All four sides of the symbol
are equivalent. The placement of the dots around the symbol has no special significance
and should never be interpreted as an actual location of an electron relative to the nucleus
of the atom.
The number of dots used represents the number of electrons in the s and p orbitals
of the outermost energy level of an atom.
Electron dot symbol is not usually written for transition elements since their last
electrons are filling the d and f orbitals.

➢ OCTET RULE (RULE OF EIGHT)

- states that the atoms of the elements form bonds so as to have access to eight
outer electrons.
- an octet of electrons consists of full s and p subshell of an atom. In terms of
Lewis symbols, an octet can be thought of as four pairs of valence electrons
arranged around the atom.

➢ LEWIS ELECTRON DOT STRUCTURE FOR MOLECULES

• LEWIS STRUCTURE – is a combination of Lewis symbols that represents

either the transfer or the sharing of electrons in a chemical bond.

STEPS IN WRITING ELECTRON DOT STRUCTURE

1. Determine the total number of valence electrons from all atoms.

2. Write the skeleton structure for the molecule by joining atoms by single bonds
(2 dots or one dash). Select a central element that is, the element needs the most
electron to fill the octet rule.
3. Subtract two electrons for each single bond used in step 2 from the total
number of electrons in step 1.
4. Divide the number obtained in step 3 by 2 to determine the pairs of electron to
be used.
5. Place the pairs of electrons around each atom (except hydrogen) to give a total
of 8 electrons around it.
6. If there are few pairs to give each atom eight electrons, change single bonds to
double or triple bonds by shifting unbonded pairs of electrons needed.

➢ FORMAL CHARGE
- the charge of an atom in a molecule or ion calculated by assuming equal sharing
of the bonding electrons.
- the difference between the valence electrons in an isolated atom and the number
of electrons assigned to that atom in a Lewis structure.

The equation for calculating the formal charge of an atom in a molecule is given
by:
 Formal charge total number of total number total number
of an atom in a = valence electrons - of nonbonding - 1/2 of bonding
Lewis structure in the free atom electrons electrons

Or

Formal charge
number of number of
of an atom in a = group number - - 1/2
unshared electrons bonds
Lewis structure

When you write formal charges, the following rules are helpful;

- For neutral molecules, the sum of the formal charges must add up to zero.
- For cations, the sum of the formal charges must equal to a positive charge.
- For anions, the sum of the formal charges must equal to a negative charge.

Formal charges often enable us to select a possible Lewis structure for a given
compound. The guidelines we follow are:

- For neutral molecules, a Lewis structure in which there are no formal charges is
preferable to one in which formal charges ae present.
- Lewis structures with large formal charges (+2, +3 and/or -2, -3 and so on) are less
possible than those with small formal charges.
- Among Lewis structures having similar distributions of formal charges, the most
possible structure is the one in which negative formal charges are placed on the more
electronegative atoms.

Covalent bonds can also be described as;

1. NONPOLAR COVALENT BOND

- a covalent bond in which the electrons are distributed or shared equally between
two atoms or there is equal sharing of the bonding electron pair.

Ex. The bond in two identical atom or the bond in diatomic molecule like H2, F2

2. POLAR COVALENT BOND

- a covalent bond in which the electrons are not distributed or shared equally
between two atoms or there is unequal sharing of the bonding electron pair.

Ex. The bond between unlike atoms or two different elements like HF, HCl, HBr

The concept of bond polarity is useful in describing the sharing of electrons

between atoms.
➢ ELECTRONEGATIVITY
- used to estimate whether a given bond will be nonpolar covalent, polar covalent
or ionic.
- is defined as the ability of an atom in a molecule to attract electrons to itself. The
greater an atom’s electronegativity, the greater its ability to attract.

Numerical estimates of electronegativity can be based on a variety of properties,

not just ionization energy and electron affinity. The first and most widely used
electronegativity scale was developed by the American chemist Linus Pauling, who
based his electronegativity scale on thermochemical data. The values are unitless.
Fluorine, the most electronegative element, has an electronegativity of 4.0. The least
electronegative element, Cesium has an electronegativity of 0.7.

➢ ELECTRONEGATIVITY VS BOND POLARITY

We can use the difference in electronegativity between two atoms to gauge the
polarity of the bonding between them.

ELECTRONEGATIVITY DIFFERENCE TYPE OF BOND

< 0.5 Nonpolar covalent
0.5 – 2.0 Polar covalent
> 2.0 Ionic

Consider these three fluorine-containing compound,

Compound F2
F-F
Electronegativity difference 4.0 – 4.0 = 0
Type of bond Nonpolar covalent

Compound HF
H-F
Electronegativity difference 2.1 – 4.0 = 1.9
Type of bond polar covalent

Compound LiF
Li-F
Electronegativity difference 1.0 – 4.0 = 3
Type of bond Ionic

The greater the difference in electronegativity between two atoms, the more polar
their bond.
PROBLEMS IN CHEMICAL BONDING

1. Write the electron dot symbol of the following elements

a. Boron
b. Carbon
c. Oxygen
d. Phosphorus

2. Write the electron dot structure of the following elements

a. H2O
b. CH4
c. CCl4
d. CO2