Limitations of Lewis Structures
- There are some chemical compounds that cannot be represented with Lewis diagrams accurately
- This occurs because the elements involved do not follow the octet rule
Molecules with odd number of electrons
- One of the most common cases occurs when there is an odd number of electrons in the molecule
- There are actually few stable molecules in nature with odd number of electrons, because an molecules with unpaired electrons are highly reactive and unstable
- These odd electron species are called free radicals
Examples of Free Radicals
Molecules with an odd number of electrons
Molecules with expanded valence shells
- There are some molecules that exceed the eight electrons in their valence shell
- An atom with an expanded octet can hold up to ten electrons, or even twelve
- These expansion occurs because there are empty f-orbitals available for bonding after the third energy shell
- Therefore, the third period elements can occasionally exceed the octet to accommodate additional electrons
- Expanded octets occurs occasionally when a non metal central atom from the third period or below, is surrounded by terminal atoms with high electronegativity values
- The most common atoms that form expanded octets are: S and P
The PCl5 molecule
The octet of the central phosphorus atom has been expanded to hold 10 electrons
The SF6 molecule
The octet of the central sulfur atom has been expanded to hold 12 electrons