Lecture 1

FOUNDATIONS
OF INORGANIC CHEMISTRY

1
 Lecture 1 Reading
Foundations of inorganic chemistry
• Molecular structures and bonding
[1] 2.1 -2.3, 2.13-2.16
[2]: chapter 3

2
3
 Molecular structures and bonding
Contents and practice skills
1. Lewis structure • Drawing Lewis structure
2. Resonance • Draw resonance
3. Formal charge • Calculate formal charge
4. Octet rule violations
5. Ionic compound Lewis
structure
6. VSEPR • Draw molecular structure and
7. Electronegativity EN determine molecular shape
8. Molecular polarity • Determine polarity of a molecule
9. Oxidation state • Determine oxidation state

4
 Valence electron
• Can be used to form bonds
• Outer layer(s) of the electron configuration
• (Often) is the same with group number

5
 Lewis structure
Present/Draw molecular structure
• Bond:
– dash/line “–”
– Always 2 electrons
– Indicate a pair of electron sharing between 2 atoms
• Non-bonding/Lone pair electron:
– 2 dots or colon “:” (sometimes also use a line)
– Not shared, only belong to one atom
– Not binding atoms together
– Contribute to the shape and reactivity of the molecular
• Single electron: one dot “.”
• Octet rule: molecule is stable when its atoms have eight
valence electrons (noble gases configurations s2p6)
Octet rule exceptions: H2, compounds of central atom that needs less than 8 (Be and B)
or more than eight electrons (period 3 or more of the periodic table)
6
 Rules to write Lewis structures
1. Count the total valence electrons of all atoms
2. Arrange the atoms (binding order)
– Often: Atom listed first goes in middle (except for acids
which list H first)
– Oxyacids always connect H to O, with other atom in middle
3. Use a pair of electrons to form a bond between each
pair of bound atoms
4. Distribute the (temporally) lone pair electrons to fill
octets (or duets for H) for the outer atoms first. All
remaining electrons then go on the central atom
5. Check: total valence electrons AND octets/duets
6. Determine formal charge, move electron until the
formal charge is closest to Zero for all atoms

7
 Practice
• Draw Lewis structure of CH4, CO2, N2, NH3,H2O
(If you don’t know where to start: step by step instruction
on drawing Lewis structure is on page 34 [1])

Number of bonds = number of electron the atom needs to have octet

8
 Resonance
Note that Lewis model is just one theory to explain molecular structure,
so it has limitations (not always explain completely satisfying)
• Apply when alternate locations for single bonds and
multiple bonds are possible (fulfill octet)
CO32- NO3-

• Different forms/structures are called resonance structures

• More stable when electrons are more dispersed
• Stability of the structure is determined by formal charges

9
 Practice
Draw Lewis structure/resonance of CH3COO- ,
SO2, O3, NO2-

10
 Formal charge
Page 47 [2]

• Formal charge is the charge an atom would have if all

bonding electrons were shared equally between the
bonding atoms (ignore electronegativity)
• Calculate formal charge
– Determine how many valence electrons the atom is supposed
to have (from the periodic table)
– Subtract how many electrons the atom has to itself
• One lone pair on the atom count as two (unshared) electrons
• Each bond to another atom contributes one electron to each atom
– If the number of desired valence electrons equal the number
the atom has, the charge is zero
→ Formal charge = # (valence e) - # (unshared e) – # (bonds)

11
 Formal Charges
• Formal charge is the charge an atom would have if all bonding
electrons were shared equally between the bonding atoms
(ignore EN)
• Calculate formal charge
Formal charge = # (valence e) - # (unshared e) – # (bonds)
Formal Charge of some common organic spieces

12
 Formal Charge Example
• Assign formal charges to each atom in the following resonance
forms of the cyanate ion (OCN-). Which resonance form is likely
to contribute most to the correct structure of OCN-?

number of bonds

• All formal structures are -1 as it should be. A and B have least

formal charge and are favored over C. A is preferable to B
because the negative formal charge is on the more
electronegative atom

13
 Practice
• Determine the formal charge of each atom and conclude on
the most stable structure(s)

• Often you can come up with many POSSIBLE structures that

fulfill octet rule → Only draw the most stable structure(s)

14
 Expanded octet rule
• Elements of the third and higher periods can have more than
8 e in Lewis structure (use also d orbitals)
SF6 IF7

ClF3 [XeF8]2-

15
Expanded octet rule

16
 Practice
• Draw structures of SNF3, SO2Cl2, XeO3, SO32-

17
 Be and B compounds
Page 49 [2]
• Draw structures of BeF2, BeCl2, and BF3:
Cannot fulfill octet for Be or B without
multiple bonds (not common for halogen)

BF single-bond length: 152 pm.

The BF bond length in BF3: 131 pm

More often used

Predicted, fulfill octet Strong polarity
Formal charge?? React using lone pair

18
 Lewis structure of ionic compounds
• Chemical bonds: forces that hold atoms together
– Covalent: electrons are equally shared
– Polar covalent: unequal electron sharing
– Ionic: electrons are transferred to form ions
• Lewis diagram of ionic compounds
– Atoms transfer electrons so that they become stable (have noble gas
configurations) → forming ions
– Cations have Lewis symbols without valence electrons
– Anions have Lewis symbols with 8 valence electrons
– Lewis structures of both cations and anions need brackets [ ] and charges
• Examples: draw the Lewis Structure for: LiF, CaF2

• Ionic formula prediction:

– Use octet rule to predict the number of electrons gained or lost
– Electrons are transferred until the metal looses all valence electrons and
the nonmetal has an octet

19
Lewis Structure Practice (self practice)
• Elemental
– He
– Al
–N
• Ionic
– NaF
– Cs2S
• Covalent
– NH41+
– N2F2 (the two N are in the middle, one F on each N)
– PCl3
– HNO3
– H2SO4 20
 Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion model
VESPR
page 51-65 [2]
• Electron pairs are arranged in a way that minimizes repulsion
• Predict molecular structure from electron pair distribution
Find: Molecular
Electron
Draw Identify shape:
# electron shape:
Lewis center Lone
pairs (total) Minimizes
structure atom pairs not
# lone pairs repulsion
shown
Lone pairs are “bigger”
than bonding pairs

• NH3 N 4,1 tetrahedral trigonal

pyramid
• H2O O 4,2 tetrahedral V shape or bent
21
 Molecular Shape with no lone pairs on
center atom

• CO2

• BH3

• CH4

• PF5

• SF6
22
 Shapes of Molecular Structures (EXmYn)
SN=m+n A: central atom, X: surrounding atom(s), E: lone pair(s)

(n=0) (n=1) (n=2) (n=3) (n=4)

23
 Molecular Geometry Examples (self-practice)

• NH4+

• NH3

• SeF6

• SeF42-

• BH3
• NO31-

24
 Electronegativity
• Electronegativity (EN):
The ability of an atom in a molecule to attract shared electrons to itself

– The greater the difference is in electronegativity between two atoms, the

more polar the resulting bond →extreme: ionic bond
– Polarity of a bond is NOT polarity of a molecule (consider also the shape or
bonds arrangement)
25
 Electronegativity and Bond Type

Tailed arrow

Polarity is represented by Dipole moment: measured in debyes, D

but we use often use ΔEN to determine polarity:

26
 Polarity Practice

Draw the dipole moment of the molecules below.

Are the molecules polar?
HF NO CO2

Molecules can have polar bonds and zero dipole moment at the same time

27
 Oxidation state
The charge that an atom would have if the more electronegative
atom in a bond acquired the two electrons of the bond completely

28
 Practice
• Determine the oxidation state of all atoms in
any chemical formula
– appears in this lecture
– you can think of

29
Intermolecular Forces
(separated ppt)

30
 HW and Reading Assignments
Instruction for HW:
Please hand in hand-writing solutions with your full name and IUID on it.
Problem marked with (**) are optional. Others are required but the ones marked with (*) is more advanced.

• Chapter 1 Reading: Molecular structures and bonding

[1] 2.1 -2.3, 2.13-2.16
[2]: chapter 3

• Week 1 HW: Pages 71-74 [2] Chapter 3

– Formal charge: 1,2,3,5
– Lewis structure + shape: 8,9,10

• Week 2 HW: Pages 71-74 [2] Chapter 3

– VSEPR: 16,17,20, (19,29-32,34)*, (21-28)**
– Electron negativity, polarity: 40-44
– Intermolecular forces: 45 (a-d)*

• Chapter 2 Reading: Molecular geometry

[1]: 6.1-6.5
[2]: chapter 4, focus on 4.1, 4.2, further reading: 4.3, 4.4

31