GILBERT NEWTON LEWIS

Lewis first sketched his idea about the octet rule on

the back of an envelope
 LEWIS STRUCTURE
 Two–dimensional structural formula
consists of electron–dot symbols that
show each atom and its neighbors, the
bonding pairs and the lone pairs that fill
each atom’s outer shell

EXAMPLE:

 F
 
 F N F
  
You’re going to learn
this in your tutorial
ya…
 
 F  
F

 
F N F   N 
   F  F 
 

 
Lewis structure do not indicate shape
 equally correct depiction retains
the same connectivity of atoms
 When drawing Lewis structure, you had
better to remember the number of
valence electrons of certain atoms:
EXAMPLE:
B , Al  Group 13  3 valence e

C  Group 14  4 valence e
N , P  Group 15  5 valence e

O , S  Group 16  6 valence e

halogens  Group 17  7 valence e

Xe  Group 18  8 valence e
EXCEPTION TO OCTET RULE
 Incomplete octet

 Expanded octet

 Odd electron
 INCOMPLETE OCTET

 Occurs when central atom has less than 8

electrons.

 Elements that can form incomplete octet are:

Beryllium(Be) Boron(B) Aluminium(Al)

 INCOMPLETE OCTET

EXAMPLE:

BeH2 H Be H

Be 2e-

2H 2 x 1e-

4e-
ODD NUMBER ELECTRONS

 Contain an unpaired e-

EXAMPLE:

●● ●●
NO N O
● ●●

odd electron
N 5e-

O 6e-

11e-
 Most odd–electron molecule have a central
atom from an odd–numbered group, such as
N (Group 15) and Cl (Group 17)

EXAMPLE:

●● ●● ●● ● ●●
N O O Cl O
● ●● ●● ●● ●●
 EXPANDED OCTET

 Central atoms have more than eight

e- around them
●●
● ●
EXAMPLE: ●● ● F ●
●F ●●
● F ●
●● ●
●● S ●●
SF6 ●F ●●
● F●
●● ● ● ●●●
●F●
●●

S 5e-

6F 6 x7e-

48e-
(0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)
●● ●● ●● ●● ●●
O S O O S O
●● ●● ●● ●●
●O●
● ●
(0)

These atoms expand their valence shells to

form more bonds and minimize formal charge
Elements Period 3 or higher can form compounds that
have both octet and expanded octet valence shell

EXAMPLE:
PCl3 + Cl2  PCl5
(octet) (expanded octet)
 Never “expand” atoms of
period 1 and 2 such as C, N
and O ! They must be octet!

EXAMPLE:

(0) (+1) (–1) (0) (0) (0)

     
O O O  O O O
   

correct
END OF 4.1