Relating bond angles of dihalo-and tetrahydro-methanes, -silanes, and -germanes to electronegativities
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
2-14-2012
Abstract
Our previous work correlated bond angles of group V and group VI hydrides (AH3E and AH 2E 2, respectively, where E represents a lone electron pair) to the electronegativities of the atoms using the fraction of s character to relate the two. Here we have extended the correlation to the AH 2X 2 series, where A is a group IV atom, carbon, silicon, or germanium and X is hydrogen, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine, treating each "X" as an individual series. These group IV series are correlated to each other by the atomic radius and electronegativity of the "X" (halide or hydrogen) atom, yielding a single relationship for all of fourteen compounds. The results support three assertions (and their corollaries) that allow students to predict relative hybridization and, thus, bond angles of these dihalides based on readily available electronegativity values. © 2012 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Journal of Chemical Education
Volume
89
Issue
3
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Kirschenbaum, Louis J., and Ben Ruekberg. "Relating bond angles of dihalo-and tetrahydro-methanes, -silanes, and -germanes to electronegativities." Journal of Chemical Education 89, 3 (2012). doi: 10.1021/ed200355u.