Covalent compound, oxidation state elements

Sulfur compounds exhibit a rich and multifarious variety which derives not only from the numerou.s possible oxidation states of the element (from —2 to 4-6) but also from the range of bond types utilized (covalent, coordinate,... 

Apart from the three broad categories of student conceptions discussed above, students displayed several inappropriate conceptions relating to the stractural properties of substances. For example, 14% of students suggested that Mg + ions were present in magnesium ribbon. A second example involved the chemical reaction between copper(II) oxide powder and dilute sulphuric acid. In this instance, 25% of students suggested that Cu + ions were present only in aqueous solution but not in the solid and liquid states. This view was rather unexpected because students had earlier been introdnced to ionic and covalent compounds. It is likely that students had merely rote-learned the general rale without sufficient understanding that ionic solids are formed between metallic and non-metallic elements. 

We learned to write formulas of ionic compounds in Chaps. 5 and 6. We balanced the charges to determine the number of each ion to use in the formula. We could not do the same thing for atoms of elements in covalent compounds, because in these compounds the atoms do not have charges. In order to overcome this difficulty, we define oxidation numbers, also called oxidation states. 

A normal oxide is a binary (two element) compound containing oxygen in the -2 oxidation state. BaO is an example of an ionic oxide and S02 is an example of a molecular (covalent) oxide. 

Compounds with metal-metal bonding occur frequently throughout the Periodic Table. The trivial but necessary condition for covalent M-M bonding is a low oxidation state which leaves valence electrons with the metal atom. This condition, however, is not sufficient. Compounds need to be metal-rich to allow for sufficiently close contacts between metal atoms, and the extension of the valence electron orbitals in space must be large in order to provide good overlap. Hence, it is no surprise that M-M bonding and cluster formation dominates with the heavier elements in the Periodic Table, involving s, p, d, and even f electrons. 

All the remaining halogens have unfilled d orbitals available and the covalency of the element can be expanded. Compounds and complex ions are formed both with other halogens and with oxygen in which the halogen can achieve a formal oxidation state as high as + 7. for example chlorine has formal oxidation states of +1 in the chlorate(I) anion CIO + 5 in the chlorate(V) anion CIO 3, and + 7 in the chlorate(VII) anion CIO4. ... 

Their unique characteristics are a result of their outer shells having seven electrons, and thus requiring only one electron to become complete. This -1 oxidation state makes them extremely reactive with both metals and some nonmetal elements that form negative ions, and they may form either ionic or covalent bonds. They can also form compounds with each other these binary compounds of the halogens are called halides. ... 

The systems of valent states and oxidation states introduced by chemists are not merely electron accounting systems. They are the systems which allow us to understand and predict which ratios of elements will form compounds and also suggests what are the likely structures and properties for these compounds (3). In the case of highly covalent compounds, the actual occupancy of the parent orbitals may seem to be very different than that implied from oxidation states if ionicity were high. Nonetheless, even some physicists have recognized the fundamental validity and usefulness of the chemist s oxidation state approach where the orbitals may now be described as symmetry or Wannier orbitals (6). 

Most transition metals form complexes known as carbonyls with carbon monoxide as ligands. Examples include Fe(CO)s, Fe2(CO)9, Cr(CO)6, and Rh6(CO)i6, in all of which the metal is ostensibly in the oxidation state of zero, and many mixed-ligand carbonyls such as Mn(CO)sI, CH3Mn(CO)s, and (C6H6)Mo(CO)3 are known. Such compounds have an organiclike chemistry, being essentially covalent (see Section 8.2 and Chapter 18), and the simple carbonyls such as Ni(CO)4 are volatile liquids that can be purified by fractional distillation. Of all these, however, only Ni(CO)4 (bp 43 °C) forms rapidly (and reversibly) from the elemental metal and CO gas... 

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