1916-1919 - Lewis, Kossel, and Langmuir made several important proposals on bonding which

lead to the development of Lewis Bonding Theory. Lewis structures are visual representations of
the physical arrangement of atoms and their bonds in respect to each other. Only the valence
shell of an atom is illustrated because it contains the only electrons involved in bonding. The
information obtained by this process can be used to predict reactivity, intermolecular forces,
molecular geometry, and other properties of a given substance. This worksheet includes some
rules and guidelines to help you draw Lewis structures.

Lewis Symbols represent the resulting structures that accommodate the octet rule. In a Lewis
symbol, an element is surrounded by up to 8 dots, where elemental symbol represents the
nucleus and the dots represent the valence electrons

Lewis symbols to indicate the formation of covalent bonds, which are shown in Lewis structures,
drawings that describe the bonding in molecules and polyatomic ions. For example, when two chlorine
atoms form a chlorine molecule, they share one pair of electrons:

The Lewis structure indicates that each Cl atom has three pairs of electrons that are not used in
bonding (called lone pairs) and one shared pair of electrons (written between the atoms). A dash
(or line) is sometimes used to indicate a shared pair of electrons:

A single shared pair of electrons is called a single bond. Each Cl atom interacts with eight
valence electrons: the six in the lone pairs and the two in the single bond

The Octet Rule

The other halogen molecules (F2, Br2, I2, and At2) form bonds like those in the chlorine molecule:
one single bond between atoms and three lone pairs of electrons per atom. This allows each
halogen atom to have a noble gas electron configuration. The tendency of main group atoms to
form enough bonds to obtain eight valence electrons is known as the octet rule.

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The number of bonds that an atom can form can often be predicted from the number of electrons
needed to reach an octet (eight valence electrons); this is especially true of the nonmetals of the
second period of the periodic table (C, N, O, and F). For example, each atom of a group 14
element has four electrons in its outermost shell and therefore requires four more electrons to
reach an octet. These four electrons can be gained by forming four covalent bonds, as illustrated
here for carbon in CCl4 (carbon tetrachloride) and silicon in SiH4 (silane). Because hydrogen
only needs two electrons to fill its valence shell, it is an exception to the octet rule. The transition
elements and inner transition elements also do not follow the octet rule:

Group 15 elements such as nitrogen have five valence electrons in the atomic Lewis
symbol: one lone pair and three unpaired electrons. To obtain an octet, these atoms
form three covalent bonds, as in NH 3 (ammonia). Oxygen and other atoms in group 16
obtain an octet by forming two covalent bonds:

Double and Triple Bonds

As previously mentioned, when a pair of atoms shares one pair of electrons, we call this a single
bond. However, a pair of atoms may need to share more than one pair of electrons in order to
achieve the requisite octet. A double bond forms when two pairs of electrons are shared between
a pair of atoms, as between the carbon and oxygen atoms in CH 2O (formaldehyde) and between
the two carbon atoms in C2H4 (ethylene):

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A triple bond forms when three electron pairs are shared by a pair of atoms, as in carbon
monoxide (CO) and the cyanide ion (CN–):

For very simple molecules and molecular ions, we can write the Lewis structures by merely
pairing up the unpaired electrons on the constituent atoms. See these examples:

Bond angle is defined as the angle between the two bonds i.e. angle between two orbitals
containing bonding electron pairs around the central atom in a complex molecule or ion. It is
measured in degrees and is calculated using spectroscopic method. It gives the idea about the
distribution of bonded electron pairs around the atoms. It helps in the determination of the shape
of the molecules.

The molecule formation takes specific geometry for each one, which is only possible while
considering the different bond parameters. Bond angle is one kind of parameter that helps in
molecular structure formation. It can be defined as the geometric angle between the two adjacent
bonds of the same molecule. For better understanding, we can consider the examples of two
different molecules, water and boron trifluoride. The bond formation is given along with the
bond angles shaping the whole geometry.

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The geometry and bond angle of H₂O:Before we move ahead and solve the geometry of the
particular molecule, it is necessary to examine the number of electrons participating in bonding
and the rest of the free electrons existing as lone pairs.

In this case, the molecular geometry of water would be bent. Notice that four electrons are
attached, surrounding the center atom of oxygen. This would make the electron geometry
tetrahedral, or so they thought. But, this generally is not the outcome of the molecular structure.
Two of these attachments are bonds, and the other two are lone pairs. Therefore, the resulting
molecular geometry is a bent structure.

Now that we recognize the geometry of the water molecule, we can find out the bonds present in
the structure from a 105° perspective to essentially be about from our chart, which is relatively
significant.

The geometry and bond angle of [Link] we draw the geometrical structure for boron trifluoride,
we will see three attachment points and three bonds linked to the central boron atom, which is
reasonably significant.

Based on the chart, the molecular geometry for boron trifluoride would be trigonal planar form,
with a perspective of 120° between the bonds present in the structure, which is reasonably
significant.

Organic compounds can be defined as any type of chemical compounds in which atoms of
carbon, that could be one or more than one, are covalently linked to the other elements’ atoms. In
very simple terms, you can say that organic compounds are simply any chemical compounds that
have carbon, but it doesn’t mean that every carbon-containing compound can be known as
organic, for e.g., cyanides, carbonates and carbides.

Classification based on the structure

Acyclic or Open-chain Compounds

Acyclic compounds are just opposite to cyclic compounds because their molecules don’t form
any ring. It is called open-chain compounds because they have a linear structure. The best
examples of these compounds are acyclic aliphatic compounds and alkanes. Open-chain
compounds can be understood by straight-chain compounds and branched-chain compounds.

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The straight-chain compounds don’t have any side chains, but branched-chain compounds’
atoms have the straight chain and one or more than one side chain are attached to it.
Cyclic or Closed-chain Compounds

Cyclic compounds are also known as “Ring compounds.” As its second name suggests, cyclic
compounds are those kinds of compounds where one or more than one number of atoms get
connected to form a closed ring. It is not mandatory that every ring of these compounds is to be
of the same size.
Cyclic or closed-chain compounds always have a prior place in human beings’ day-to-day life as
humans encounter these compounds on a daily basis. They are also categorized into two
divisions. The first division is about “Heterocyclic,” and the second division is about
“Homocyclic.” Now we will discuss these categories one by one.
Heterocyclic compounds

Heterocyclic compounds are a kind of cyclic compound in which the ring structure exists. We
can understand these compounds in a very simple definition as it is like any other dominant
branch of organic compounds in which two or more two atoms join in the ring shape in their
molecules. Although they have atoms of carbon, it must be noticed that at least one atom of
another element also exists. The very familiar examples of these compounds are synthetic dyes,
nucleic acids and most drugs.
Homocyclic compounds

If we talk about organic chemistry, Homocyclic compounds are the type of cyclic compounds,
unlike heterocyclic, in which the ring structure is formed by the atoms. This ring structure is
made up of the same elements’ atoms and this element is the carbon. These are called
Carbocyclic compounds. No element other than carbon can exist in this compound. Although in
inorganic chemistry, homocyclic compounds have ring structures that have been formed by diff-
diff elements’ atoms like boron, sulphur, phosphorus and so on. The best examples of this
compound are naphthalene, tetracene, benzene and so on.
Heterocyclic Compounds

Heterocyclic compounds are divided into two broad categories, which are named Alicyclic
heterocyclic compounds and Aromatic heterocyclic compounds. Now, we will discuss these
categories in brief.
Classification of Heterocyclic Compounds

Alicyclic Heterocyclic Compounds

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We can understand these compounds by simple lines. Ring structures of these compounds have
one or more than one heteroatom. We can understand these compounds by a few examples,
which are tetrahydrothiophene, tetrahydrofuran and so on.
Aromatic Heterocyclic Compounds

These compounds can be easily defined by simple understanding. Unlike Alicyclic heterocyclic
compounds, molecules of these compounds have one or more than one heteroatom. Examples of
these compounds are thiophene, furan and so on.
Homocyclic or Carbocyclic Compounds

Homocyclic or carbocyclic compounds are basically divided into two compounds. The first
compound is known as Alicyclic compound and the second is known as Aromatic compound.

Classification of Homocyclic compounds

Alicyclic Compounds

The alicyclic compound is that kind of compound that is aliphatic and cyclic too. This compound
has one or more than one all-carbon ring that can be saturated or unsaturated. The bonds which
exist in pairs of atoms can be any type of bond like single, double or triple.
Aromatic Compounds

Aromatic compounds are those cyclic compounds that are unsaturated, unlike alicyclic
compounds, which are either saturated or unsaturated. These compounds are also called
aromatics or arenas. They are pleasant in the smell, as their Greek meaning suggests, which is
“aroma.” These compounds can be distinguished by one or more than one planar ring of atoms
linked by covalent bonds of two different types. A few examples of these compounds are
benzene and toluene.
Classification of Aromatic Compounds

Aromatic compounds have distinctive stability and this is why they are referred to as aromaticity
which is majorly concerned with odour. Now we will discuss the classification of these
compounds, which are basically Benzenoid Aromatic Compounds and Non-Benzenoid Aromatic
compounds.
Benzenoid Aromatic Compounds

These aromatic compounds are mainly obtained from benzene. These compounds are
distinguished by the existence of one or more than one isolated or fused benzene rings and their
derivatives additionally in the structure. These compounds can be arranged as Monocyclic,
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Bicyclic and Tricyclic on the basis of the number of benzene rings which are fused together in
the structure. In bicyclic and tricyclic compounds, there are two or more than two rings present
in the structure. A few examples of these compounds are Phenanthrene, Naphthalene,
Anthracene. In addition, a few of such compounds are represented below.
Non-benzenoid Aromatic Compounds

These aromatic compounds consist of other unsaturated rings instead of benzene rings. These
aromatic compounds have special stability. Some examples of these compounds are Tropolone
and Azulene.
Classification based on the functional groups

A functional group can be defined as a process in which a molecule receives its characteristic
chemical properties from one or group of atoms that exist in the molecule. Now we must
understand why we need to classify organic compounds on the basis of functional groups. The
answer is very simple because it classifies the chemical behaviour of an organic compound. We
need to understand that the nature of functional groups draws impacts on the reactions of
compounds and at some level, their physical properties.
There are numerous organic reactions, which involve functional group transformation, and have
no effect on the rest of the molecules. There are so many examples in the functional group case,
such as the carboxylic acid group (-COOH), the hydroxyl group (-OH) and the aldehyde group (-
CHO).

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Reference

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