Molecular Orbital theory question

pigeonwarrior

What is the bond order of PF3 with a charge of 2+? The answer is 0.5.
Some help would be great!

Reply 1

TypicalNerd

Original post

by Nitrotoluene

Open the spoiler, pigeonwarrior!😀

**Molecular Orbital Theory Question**

There is no way this is a correct approach. For starters, how on earth does 2 = 0.5?

I have doubts about the numbers of bonding and antibonding electrons you have said there are. I think should be 24 valence electrons (3 in P^2+ and 7 in each F), but if there are 10 bonding electrons and 6 antibonding electrons, that leaves just 8 non-bonding electrons. These numbers of electrons would also suggest that the bond order would be 2 and not 0.5, which is apparently not the answer.

Also, bond order is in MO theory is just defined as (bonding electrons - antibonding electrons)/2 and is not calculated as such because the ion has lost two electrons.

Unfortunately, I cannot offer an alternative explanation as to where 0.5 came from as I am not familiar enough with MO theory, the relevant orbital energies and molecular symmetry to construct an MO diagram for PF3^2+. I would guess it belongs to the D3h point group, if that is remotely helpful for anyone better versed in MO theory to construct the relevant diagram.

Reply 2

pigeonwarrior

Thank you so much everyone!!!

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Articles for you

Personal Statement:Natural Sciences 13

How The Student Room is moderated

To keep The Student Room safe for everyone, we moderate posts that are added to the site.

Try out the app

Continue on web