FCN Lewis structure

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FCN (cyanogen fluoride) has one fluorine atom, one carbon atom, and one nitrogen atom.

In FCN Lewis structure, there is a single bond between carbon and fluorine atom, and a triple bond between carbon and nitrogen atom. The fluorine atom has three lone pairs, and the nitrogen atom has one lone pair.

Contents

Steps

Use these steps to correctly draw the FCN Lewis structure:

#1 First draw a rough sketch
#2 Mark lone pairs on the atoms
#3 Calculate and mark formal charges on the atoms, if required
#4 Convert lone pairs of the atoms, and minimize formal charges
#5 Repeat step 4 if needed, until all charges are minimized, to get a stable Lewis structure

Let’s discuss each step in more detail.

#1 First draw a rough sketch

First, determine the total number of valence electrons

In the periodic table, fluorine lies in group 17, carbon lies in group 14, and nitrogen lies in group 15.

Hence, fluorine has seven valence electrons, carbon has four valence electrons, and nitrogen has five valence electrons.

Since FCN has one fluorine atom, one carbon atom, and one nitrogen atom, so…

Valence electrons of one fluorine atom = 7 × 1 = 7
Valence electrons of one carbon atom = 4 × 1 = 4
Valence electrons of one nitrogen atom = 5 × 1 = 5

And the total valence electrons = 7 + 4 + 5 = 16

Learn how to find: Fluorine valence electrons, Carbon valence electrons, and Nitrogen valence electrons

Second, find the total electron pairs

We have a total of 16 valence electrons. And when we divide this value by two, we get the value of total electron pairs.

Total electron pairs = total valence electrons ÷ 2

So the total electron pairs = 16 ÷ 2 = 8

Third, determine the central atom

We have to place the least electronegative atom at the center.

Since carbon is less electronegative than fluorine and nitrogen, assume that the central atom is carbon.

Therefore, place carbon in the center and fluorine and nitrogen on either side.

And finally, draw the rough sketch

FCN Lewis Structure (Step 1) — Rough sketch of FCN Lewis structure

#2 Mark lone pairs on the atoms

Here, we have a total of 8 electron pairs. And two bonds are already marked. So we have to only mark the remaining six electron pairs as lone pairs on the sketch.

Also remember that all three (fluorine, carbon, and nitrogen) are the period 2 elements, so they can not keep more than 8 electrons in their last shell.

Always start to mark the lone pairs from outside atoms. Here, the outside atoms are fluorine and nitrogen.

So for fluorine and nitrogen, there are three lone pairs, and for carbon, there is zero lone pair because all six electron pairs are over.

Mark the lone pairs on the sketch as follows:

FCN Lewis Structure (Step 2) — Lone pairs marked on FCN Lewis structure

#3 Calculate and mark formal charges on the atoms, if required

Use the following formula to calculate the formal charges on atoms:

Formal charge = valence electrons – nonbonding electrons – ½ bonding electrons

For fluorine atom, formal charge = 7 – 6 – ½ (2) = 0

For carbon atom, formal charge = 4 – 0 – ½ (4) = +2

For nitrogen atom, formal charge = 5 – 6 – ½ (2) = -2

Here, both carbon and nitrogen atoms have charges, so mark them on the sketch as follows:

FCN Lewis Structure (Step 3) — Formal charges marked on FCN Lewis structure

The above structure is not a stable Lewis structure because both carbon and nitrogen atoms have charges. Therefore, reduce the charges (as below) by converting lone pairs to bonds.

#4 Convert lone pairs of the atoms, and minimize formal charges

Convert a lone pair of the nitrogen atom to make a new C — N bond with the carbon atom as follows:

FCN Lewis Structure (Step 4) — Lone pair of nitrogen is converted, but still there are charges

#5 Repeating step 4 to get a stable Lewis structure

Since there are charges on the atoms, again convert a lone pair of the nitrogen atom to make a new C — N bond with the carbon atom as follows:

FCN Lewis Structure (Step 5) — Lone pair of nitrogen is converted again, and got the stable Lewis structure of FCN

In the above structure, you can see that the central atom (carbon) forms an octet. And the outside atoms (fluorine and nitrogen) also form an octet. Hence, the octet rule is satisfied.

Also, the above structure is more stable than the previous structures. Therefore, this structure is the stable Lewis structure of FCN.

Next: CO₂ Lewis structure

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Deep

Learnool.com was founded by Deep Rana, who is a mechanical engineer by profession and a blogger by passion. He has a good conceptual knowledge on different educational topics and he provides the same on this website. He loves to learn something new everyday and believes that the best utilization of free time is developing a new skill.