3o. The covalent bonding in the chloromethane molecule CH₃Cl

A further selection of dot & cross electronic Lewis diagrams for covalent bonding in molecules, particularly simple organic molecules.

Only the outer valency electrons are shown for carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and chlorine.

Can you deduce these electronic diagrams of covalently bonded molecules for yourself?

Ex. 10 nitrogen N₂; Ex. 11 ethane C₂H₆; Ex. 12 chloromethane CH₃Cl and Ex. 13 methanol CH₃OH.

Electronic origin of the diagrams showing the outer electrons of N, C, Cl and O: N at. no. 7 (2.5), H at. no. (1), C at. no. 6 (2.4), Cl at. no. 17 (2.8.7) and O at. no. 8 (2.6) plus a variety of crosses and blobs!

The valencies or combining power in these examples are N 3, H 1, C 4, Cl 1 and O 2, so,  these valency numbers correspond to the number of electrons the atom needs to give a stable outer shell - that's what valency is all about!

From these you can work out others e.g. Ex. 12 can be used to derive the ox diagram for chloromethane molecules. by sucessively replacing the hydrogen atoms with chlorine and so other dot and cross diagrams can be drawn to represent CH₂Cl₂, CHCl₃ and CCl₄.

Only the outer electrons are shown in the dot and cross diagrams below.