Question

Phosphorus forms a number of oxohalides, X3PO, in which X may be a F, Cl, or Br atom. The most common of these, phosphoryl chloride, is obtained through the reaction 2PCl3(g)+O2(g)⟶2Cl3PO(g) Draw the Lewis structure for phosphoryl chloride. optimize formal charges.

Answer 1

Answer : The Lewis-dot structure of
`Cl_3PO` is shown below.

Explanation :

Lewis-dot structure : It shows the bonding between the atoms of a molecule and it also shows the unpaired electrons present in the molecule.

In the Lewis-dot structure the valance electrons are shown by 'dot'.

The given molecule is,
`Cl_3PO`

As we know that chlorine has '7' valence electrons, phosphorous has '5' valence electrons and oxygen has '6' valence electrons.

Therefore, the total number of valence electrons in
`Cl_3PO` = 3(7) + 5 + 6 = 32

According to Lewis-dot structure, there are 10 number of bonding electrons and 22 number of non-bonding electrons.

Now we have to determine the formal charge for each atom.

Formula for formal charge :

`\text{Formal charge}=\text{Valence electrons}-\text{Non-bonding electrons}-\frac{\text{Bonding electrons}}{2}`

`\text{Formal charge on O}=6-4-(4)/(2)=0`

`\text{Formal charge on P}=5-0-(10)/(2)=0`

`\text{Formal charge on }Cl_1=7-6-(2)/(2)=0`

`\text{Formal charge on }Cl_2=7-6-(2)/(2)=0`

`\text{Formal charge on }Cl_2=7-6-(2)/(2)=0`

Hence, the Lewis-dot structure of
`Cl_3PO` is shown below.