Phosphorus covalent radius

A = Alkali metal AE = Alkaline-earth metal a-P = Amorphous phosphorus CN = Mean coordination number (i(M-P) = Distance between M and P atom Distances between P atoms E = Element = Band gap M = Metal PBO = Pauling bond order (P) = Formal charge of a P atom (M) = Formal charge of a M atom R = Zr, Ftf, rare earth metal or actinoid metal RE = Rare earth element / cov = Covalent radius ... 

The P-F bond length is very similar to the free ligand value, and the nickel-phosphorus bond length is very short indeed since the normally accepted covalent radius of phosphorus is 1.1 OA and that of atomic... 

Krebs 1968). According to Pearson (1977) the covalent radius of the phosphorus atom in a single bond is 0.110. 

Appendix E) and 380 pm is approximately twice the van der Wools radius of phosphorus.30 Furthermore, there is a steady reduction of this distance as one progresses across the transition series. All of this is consistent with the hypothesis that this is an electronic (covalent) effect. 

These elements, with five valence electrons, form bonds which are almost exclusively covalent in character. For this reason, it is not generally profitable to invoke an ionic description, however formal, and the definition of an ionic radius is usually of Httle value. An exception might be made in certain phosphorus complexes where an empirical radius may be defined and used in the usual way. 

Solid state studies by x-ray diffraction have shown that interatomic distances are sometimes greater than expected for a single covalent bond (primary bond), but less than the Van der Waal radius sum of the two atoms concerned. The concepts of secondary bonding and dative bonding are sometimes invoked to explain these unusual distances which have been observed in widely differing phosphorus (and other) compounds. 

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