Question

Phosphorus oxychloride has the chemical formula POCl3, with P as the central atom. In order to minimize formal charge, how many bonds does phosphorus make to the other atoms in the molecule?

(Count each single bond as one, each double bond as two, and each triple bond as three).

a) 3 b) 4 c) 5 d) 6 e) 7

Answer 1

Phosphorus makes 5 bonds with other atoms

Step-by-step explanation:

`POCl_(3)` has total 32 number of valence electrons (P has 5 , O has 6 and Cl has 7 valence electrons).

These valence electrons are used to draw Lewis structure of
`POCl_(3)`.

Formal charge on an atom = (no. of valence electrons of the atom)-(no. of covalent bonds attached to the atom)-(no. of electrons in lone pair of the atom)

Applying octet rule (atoms have eight electrons in their valence shell) and minimizing formal charge of
`POCl_(3)`, it has been found that P makes total 5 bonds with rest of the atoms.

Lewis structure of
`POCl_(3)` along with formal charge (in parentheses) has been given below.