Non-bonding electrons

The very low bond dissociation enthalpy of fluorine is an important factor contributing to the greater reactivity of fluorine. (This low energy may be due to repulsion between non-bonding electrons on the two adjacent fluorine atoms.) The higher hydration and lattice enthalpies of the fluoride ion are due to the smaller size of this ion. 

Chiral carbon atoms are common, but they are not the only possible centers of chirality. Other possible chiral tetravalent atoms are Si, Ge, Sn, N, S, and P, while potential trivalent chiral atoms, in which non-bonding electrons occupy the position of the fourth ligand, are N, P, As, Sb, S, Se, and Te. Furthermore, a center of chirality does not even have to be an atom, as shown in the structure represented in Figure 2-70b, where the center of chirality is at the center of the achiral skeleton of adamantane. 

Halonium ions, including hydrido or alkylhalonium ions, are similarly protolytically activated, indicative of protonation of the non-bonded electron pairs of their halogen atoms. 

Lewis acid catalysts, such as AlCl or BF, coordinate strongly with non-bonded electron pairs but they iateract only weakly with bonded electron pairs. Therefore, n-donon reagents, such as alkyl haUdes, can react with Lewis acid catalysts even under complete exclusion of moisture or any other proton source ... 

Earlandite structure, 6,849 Edge-coalesced icosahedra eleven-coordinate compounds, 1, 99 repulsion energy coefficients, 1,33,34 Edta — see Acetic acid, ethylenediaminetetra-Effective atomic number concept, 1,16 Effective bond length ratios non-bonding electron pairs, 1,37 Effective d-orbital set, 1,222 Egta — see Acetic acid,... 

Planar coordinated systems, you will recall from Chapter 1, formed a major group of exceptions to the otherwise very successful geometry modelling of Kepert. That model explicitly neglected any steric role for the non bonding electrons, however. Let us now recognize and incorporate the steric activity of the d shell in systems. 

The rationale behind this choice of bond integrals is that the radical stabilizing alpha effect of such radicals are explained not by the usual "resonance form" arguments, but by invoking frontier orbital interactions between the singly occupied molecular orbital of the localized carbon radical and the highest occupied molecular orbital (the non-bonding electrons atomic orbital) of the heteroatom (6). For free radicals the result of the SOMO-HOMO interaction Ts a net "one-half" pi bond (a pi bond plus a one-half... 

Efg Electric field gradient n-pair Non-bonding electron pair Tt-pair -bonding electron pair XY Generalised dihalogen molecules... 

Fig. 1 Comparison of the experimentally determined geometries of the hydrogen-bonded complex H3N-- -HC1 and its halogen-bonded analogue H3N- C1F (both drawn to scale) with a non-bonding electron-pair (n-pair) model of NH3. Here, and in other figures, the n-pair electron distribution is drawn in the exaggerated style favoured by chemists. The key to the colour coding of atoms used in this and similar figures is also displayed...

Furan is the prototype of molecules that carry both non-bonding and aromatic tt bonding electron pairs. The usual model for the n-pair and tt electron density in this molecule is shown in Fig. 18. The oxygen atom is taken to have a non-bonding electron pair in an orbital whose symmetry axis coincides with the C2 axis of furan. 

The non-bonding electron pair may occupy one orbital with antiparallel spins (singlet, V2), or two different orbitals with antiparallel (singlet, lcrp) or parallel spins (triplet, 3crp). 

The non-bonding electron pair occupies an s-orbital, the bonding electrons occupy p-orbitals, while the third p-orbital remains empty. The bonding angle should be strictly 90° (geometry A). 

For the coordination number 3, two different environments of tin(II) can be distinguished. One is the trigonal planar arrangement which is realized when the non-bonding electron pair at the tin atom is engaged in bonding, with tin acting as a Lewis base. The first example of this kind characterized by X-ray structural analysis is compound 4 30) (for the structure see also Chapter 5). 

Stannylenes are in the first place Lewis acids (electron acceptors) as can be easily derived from the structures of the solids (Chapter 3). When no Lewis bases (electron donors) are present, they may also act as Lewis bases via their non-bonding electron pair (see polymerization of organic stannylenes). 

In contrast to carbenes the singlet electron configuration in stannylenes SnX2 is much more stable this implies that the non-bonding electron pair can remain unchanged during a reaction. Consequently, this reaction center and other centers must be considered in a reaction pathway multiplying the reaction possibilities compared with the isoelectronic carbenes. 

Most current versions of the generalized (8-N) rule differ in notation or in their treatment of non-bonding electrons. Although the lack of a consistent notation causes some confusion, formal problems of this type will not be considered here. Any one scheme of notation seems just as good as the others but, for convenience, that previously used by one of the present authors (22) is adopted with some necessary modifications. 

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