![]() The oxidation state formalism can give us a better idea about the electron density around an atom and its tendency to add electrons and become reduced. It doesn't help us predict the reactivity of this atom. The 16 valence electrons fill through the 2 pi bonding orbitals so there is a full double bond between carbon and each oxygen.Īs you saw above, the total electron count around the atoms in carbon dioxide seriously overestimates the electron density around the carbon atom. The O 2 2p y combines with the C 2p y to make another set of pi bonding and pi antibonding molecular orbitals. The O 1 2p x combines with the C 2p x to make a pi bonding and pi antibonding molecular orbital. The remaining 2sp 2 from the oxygen atoms become non-bonding molecular orbitals. The other 2sp orbital on C combines with a 2sp 2 orbital on O 2 to make another set of sigma bonding and sigma antibonding molecular orbitals. The other oxygen will have a 2p y orbital that can combine with the other p orbital on carbon.Ī 2sp 2 orbital on O1 combines with a 2sp orbital on C to make a sigma bonding and a sigma antibonding molecular orbital. One of the oxygens will have a 2p x orbital to combine with the carbon 2p x orbital. These must each be 2sp 2 hybridized with a remaining 2p orbital. This atom will be 2sp hybridized with remaining 2p x and 2p y atomic orbitals.Įach oxygen makes 1 sigma bond and also needs 2 orbitals for lone pairs of electrons. The bonding electrons will all be more closely associated with oxygen than with carbon.įrom the Lewis structure we can see that the carbon in CO 2 must make 2 sigma bonds and it has no lone pairs. This carbon is bonded only to highly electronegative oxygen atoms. An electrophile (electron-lover) is a center that is electron poor and will be attracted to centers that are electron-rich.Įven though the total electron count around the carbon is 8, this overestimates the electron density. One thing that we can understand by looking at the structure of CO 2, is that the carbon center of the molecule must be electrophilic. The C-O bonds in carbon dioxide are polar and yet the dipole moment is zero because the 2 bond dipoles cancel each other. Let's look at some of the physical properties of CO 2. From the Lewis structure of CO 2 and VSEPR, we can determine that this is a linear molecule.
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