Collections:Texts:Chemistry:Chapter 7 - Further Aspects of Covalent Bonding
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FURTHER ASPECTS OF COVALENT BONDING
7.1 Exceptions to the Octet Rule
7.3 Orbitals Consistent with Molecular Shapes
7.4 Orbital Descriptions of Multiple Bonds
7.5 Polarity of Bonds: Electronegativity
7.7 Some Difficulties with Electron-Pair Bonds
The previous chapter concentrated on the octet rule and Lewis diagrams for simple covalent molecules. There are numerous examples, however, of molecules which are quite stable but contain one or more atoms which do not have a noble-gas electron configuration. Furthermore, structural formulas like those in Chap. 6 only show which atoms are connected to which. They do not tell us how the atoms are arranged in three-dimensional space. In other words a Lewis diagram does not show the shape of a molecule.
In this chapter we will develop a more detailed picture of molecules—including some which do not obey the octet rule. You will learn how both the shapes and bonding of molecules may be described in terms of orbitals. In addition it will become apparent that the distinction between covalent and ionic bonding is not so sharp as it may have seemed in Chap. 6. You will find that many covalent molecules are electrically unbalanced, causing their properties to tend toward those of ion pairs. Rules will be developed so that you can predict which combinations of atoms will exhibit this kind of behavior.
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