Final answer:
The Lewis structure for hypochlorous acid, HOCl, has oxygen in the center with single bonds to hydrogen and chlorine, and is represented by H-O-Cl, based on formal charge considerations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct Lewis structure for hypochlorous acid (HOCl) places oxygen (O) in the center with a single bond connecting it to chlorine (Cl) and another single bond connecting to hydrogen (H). Oxygen has two pairs of nonbonding electrons, resulting in a bent molecular shape.
The compound can also be represented as H-O-Cl to indicate this connectivity clearly. When determining the arrangement of atoms based on formal charge considerations, HOCl is favored over OCIH because it allows the atoms to be in their most favorable formal charge state. The oxygen atom, which is more electronegative than chlorine, should carry the negative charge in the hypochlorite ion (OCl¯), which is the conjugate base of hypochlorous acid. For the molecular ion, Lewis structures are often drawn with brackets around the structure to indicate the overall charge, but since hypochlorous acid is not an ion, this is not necessary.